Stoke City vs West Bromwich Albion. Sky Bet Championship.
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Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Stoke City and West Bromwich Albion at the bet365 Stadium on Saturday | Goals from Million Manhoef and Andre Vidigal help Steven Schumacher's Potters fight back to earn a valuable point
Saturday 6 April 2024 18:29, UK
Stoke picked up a precious point in their fight for Championship survival as they came back from 2-0 to draw with West Brom.
The Baggies stretched their unbeaten run to nine but it was a case of what could have been for Carlos Corberan's side, who could have further cemented their play-off spot with victory at the bet365 Stadium.
Celtic loanee Mikey Johnston and Jed Wallace put the visitors two goals to the good with strikes either side of half-time.
But Million Manhoef grabbed one back before Andre Vidigal levelled with the rebound after Alex Palmer saved his penalty.
Stoke are now four points clear of the drop after picking up five points from their last three.
Steven Schumacher freshened up his side after Monday's draw against Huddersfield with a quartet of changes.
Three of them were in attacking areas as Manhoef, Sead Haksabanovic and Ryan Mmaee returned to the starting line-up along with defender Enda Stevens.
Meanwhile, Corberan made three changes as Cedric Kipre, Grady Diangana and captain Jed Wallace replaced Semi Ajayi, John Swift and Tom Fellows after the draw with Watford.
Baggies stopper Palmer had to be alert early on to keep out Haksabanovic's strike after he skipped past a defender.
Palmer was quick off his line to deny Mmaee one-on-one, before Haksabanovic fired wide from a tight angle.
For all of the Potters' good work, it was the visitors who took the lead in the 24th minute. Johnston broke the deadlock with his seventh goal since making the switch from the Scottish giants as he smashed home at the near post after being found by Diangana.
Down the other end, Stevens came close to drawing the hosts back level as he struck wide of the mark.
And Mmaee did the same after he was exceptionally found by a ball over the top from captain Josh Laurent.
After the break, the Morocco international drove his way into the box and forced Palmer into action, but he went down injured soon after and was replaced by Tyrese Campbell.
Wallace doubled the lead just before the hour mark as Daniel Iversen could only push Brandon Thomas-Asante's cross into his path.
Vidigal and Wouter Burger were hauled on by Schumacher in a desperate attempt to get something from the game.
Vidigal linked up with fellow substitute Campbell as the dragged his effort wide.
But the hosts halved the deficit with little over 20 minutes to go when Dutchman Ki-Jana Hoever flicked the ball into compatriot Manhoef's path and he made no mistake as he buried his first goal for the club.
Substitute Yann M'Vila gave away a penalty when he brought down Campbell inside the box with 13 minutes left.
Palmer kept out Vidigal's spot-kick but the Portuguese forward made no mistake from the follow-up to level.
Albion's big chance came in the seventh minute of stoppage time as Andreas Weimann, an 87th-minute substitute, poked wide.
Stoke's Steven Schumacher:
"I thought we played really well. On the balance of the game we definitely deserved something.
"I thought we were the better team. The only negative from the performance was we didn't take the chances that we created in the big moments, especially to go ahead in the game.
"West Brom were more clinical than us with their two chances but again we've shown plenty of character, we didn't lose our composure or our faith. We kept going for it and got our rewards in the end.
"I told the boys I felt we were the better team and I asked them if they sensed that and they said they did.
"I told them to stick to the plan then because they agreed. And we wanted to keep playing the same tempo and keep going forward.
"We knew if we kept running forward it would tire West Brom out and with our energy at the end of the game we might get something out of it and that's what happened.
"They got their second with their first attack in the second half. It was almost a smash and grab from an away team.
"Our players didn't deviate from what we wanted to do and we got what we deserved in the end."
West Brom's Carlos Corberan:
They had more chances than us. We should have managed the game better. We were more accurate with our chances.
"Unfortunately, in attack we couldn't dominate the game more. They started to create more problems as the game went on. That made them think they could achieve something.
"We tried until the end to go for three points and unfortunately we couldn't score with two very good cutbacks Tom Fellows put in at the end.
"We missed the finishing in front of the goal at the end.
"We didn't create enough in attack. We didn't show enough personality in the first minutes of the game. The weather conditions affected us more than we expected.
"We need to compete better than we did early. The level we showed wasn't enough to win three points.
"As a coach you want to create more chances because the more you create, the more chance you have to win the game."
