Just the job for relieved Sparky
Stoke bring boss festive cheer as they cling on to finally halt slide
MARK HUGHES had said that defeat here would not cost him his job. We will never know if his pre- match faith was justified.
Somehow, Stoke weathered a second-half West Brom storm to cling onto as lender, precious victory.
First- half goals from Joe Allen and Maxim ChoupoMoting had put the Potters and their under-fire manager in the box seat but when the wasteful Salomon Rondon finally found the net shortly after the break it set up a nervy final 40 minutes. Forget substitute Ramadan’s injury-time third — this was tense.
A run of one win in eight games had left the home side a point above the relegation zone following last weekend’s 3-0 home defeat by West Ham which had supporters calling for Hughes’s head.
Had t he Welshman been granted an early Christmas wish, he may well have asked Santa to ensure the Baggies were their next opponents.
Albion had not won in a clubrecord 17 games, although current boss Alan Pardew had been in charge for just four of them. That run continues, but it was not for a lack of trying.
‘ At times you’ve got your heart in your mouth,’ admitted a relieved Hughes, before adding that chairman Peter Coates had paid a visit this week to stand by his manager. ‘He’s been in reassuring everybody that it is business as usual. I didn’t really have any The relief in the celebrations was palpable but the Baggies almost had an instant response when Rondon wasted the first of a number of good chances.
Albion were punished on the stroke of the break when Allen held off Gareth Barry and his cute pass put Choupo-Moting in on goal. The Cameroon forward coolly took the ball past West Brom keeper Ben Foster before slotting home.
On 51 minutes Rondon finally found the net. Chris Brunt’s ball over the top exposed Ryan Shawcross and this time theVenzu el an made no mistake, tucking his seventh shot of the afternoon under Butland.
Stoke retreated, chances came and went for the visitors. With panic descending, terrace cries of ‘Go on, Stoke’ sounded like an order rather than encouragement.
In injury time But land punched a Jonny Evans header against Rondon but the rebound drifted wide. With fingernails gnawed to the bone, a Stoke break sealed it.
Mame Biram Diouf tuned on a clearance to play in ChoupoMoting, who advanced on an exposed Foster before sidefooting to sub Ramadan to tap into an empty goal.
The roof almost came off. Coates will have smiled.
‘They stand by you,’ Hughes said of his owners. ‘ If they think they have the right people, then they back you. That’s what they’ve done this week.’
While Albion were unfortunate, defeat underlined the task Pardew has on his hands to keep them up. The boing boing Baggies are still waiting for the bounce.