Stoke City took a hard earned point from their midday meeting at The Hawthorns on Sunday as they held West Bromwich Albion to a 1-1 draw.
Lynden Gooch's bizarre opener early doors was cancelled out by Brandon Thomas-Asante just before half-time. Paul Gallagher has now drawn both games that he has managed with the result of 1-1 after Tuesday’s game against Swansea. This point puts Stoke three points clear of the relegation zone and in nineteenth.
West Brom started the quickest and the most threatening team out of the two, as Sarmiento threatened the Stoke goal with a half volley from inside the box, that flew just over the bar after a lovely cross from Grady Diangana. The Baggies early pressure did not seem to be fruitful for the home side as in the 13th minute, Lyndon Gooch took it upon himself to lob the West Brom keeper with a wayward cross to put the Potters into the lead sending the away end into delirium.
Stoke then gained momentum from this as minutes later Ryan Mmaee nearly put the travelling side 2-0 up, as he twisted and turned inside the box before trying to drag the ball into the bottom left corner however, the ball took a slight nick and went out for a corner.
This Stoke momentum did not seem to affect the Baggies as they struck back in the thirty fourth minute courtesy of Brandon Thomas-Asante who volleyed the ball home from the edge of the box to make it 1-1.
The second half was more one sided as West Brom had the majority of the chances in the second period and also dominated the ball. West Brom winger Jed Wallace came incredibly close to putting his side ahead in the sixty sixth minute as he worked the ball onto his right foot at the edge of the box with the aims of bending the ball into the top right corner.
The winger let his shot rip which looked destined for the top right, however, a heroic Michael Rose came to the rescue to deflect his shot over the bar. The home side really put the pressure on Stoke in the closing stages of the game as Brandon Thomas-Asante came close to netting his second of the game as he attempted to flick the ball past Bonham from close range however, his point blank effort was blocked by The Potters keeper. The Baggies also had the ball in the back of the net in the eighty ninth minute as Bartley towered up to head the ball into the net, however he wandered from an offside position causing the flag to be raised, much to the delight of the travelling supporters.
The whistle blew for Full Time and Stoke gained a valuable point on the road against a good West Brom side.
It was Paul Gallagher’s second game in charge as Interim Manager today. Here’s what he had to say on the manager situation at Stoke.
"Stoke City is a massive football club," Gallagher said after the stalemate. "I had the privilege of playing for the club twice, then coached and now a caretaker manager. Whoever comes into this football club is coming into a massive club with real history and some good people. I've just taken it day by day, so I'll have a conversation. I'll have a day off on Monday and then we'll take it from there. I've just been asked to do a job and I said yep, no problem, and they'll just keep me updated."
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