West Brom back on top as Swansea stunned by Stoke

LONDON: West Brom surged back to the top of the Championship with a 4-2 win against Cardiff, while previous leaders Swansea crashed to a shock defeat against Stoke yesterday. Albion raced into a three-goal lead at the Hawthorns as Charlie Austin scored his first league goal for Slaven Bilic’s side after first-half strikes from Matheus Pereira and Grady Diangana.

Danny Ward’s late double for Cardiff made things nervy for Albion until Romaine Sawyers scored the hosts’ fourth goal deep into stoppage-time. Scott Hogan’s 90th-minute winner gave Stoke their first victory of the season in dramatic fashion with a 2-1 triumph at Swansea.

Nathan Jones watched Stoke fall behind in the opening minute to Andre Ayew’s first Liberty Stadium goal since 2016. But their spirited fightback will give underfire boss Jones hope of a revival after former Swansea midfielder Sam Clucas equalised midway through the first half.

It looked like Stoke were going to miss the chance to end their 10-game winless run until Hogan found the back of the net in the 90th minute. Nottingham Forest stretched their unbeaten league run to 10 games with a 1-0 win over Brentford.

Ben Watson, deputising as skipper with Michael Dawson sidelined, had not scored for three-and-a-half years prior to his strike that beat Barnsley a fortnight ago. The former Crystal Palace midfielder was again the difference against the Bees, scoring a stunning 12-yard volley in the 56th minute to lift Forest up to second in the table, level on points with West Brom.

Millwall began life after Neil Harris by ending their eight-game wait for a league victory with a 2-1 win against 10-man Leeds at The Den. The Lions, who had first-team coach Adam Barrett in charge following Harris’ decision to stand down as manager earlier this week, went in front thanks to Jed Wallace’s early penalty, which saw Gaetano Berardi dismissed.