Alex Mowatt and Karlan Grant scored in each half to end West Brom’s run of draws with a 2-0 victory over Coventry and condemn Frank Lampard to his first defeat as boss.
West Brom were building a reputation for being the league’s draw specialists having drawn 10 of their last 11 Championship meetings, but Carlos Corberan’s side finally managed to turn one into a win and extend their unbeaten run to 12 matches.
The Baggies put themselves in position for a first win in over a month when Mowatt’s deflected effort handed him his first goal since September.
West Brom have hit the front and failed to win on five separate occasions before this fixture and they had to weather a second-half storm from Coventry to stop history repeating itself again before Grant’s strike sealed the points with 16 minutes remaining to send them back into the play-off places.
Lampard decided to go with two changes off the back of his first victory as Coventry head coach, with Josh Eccles and Norman Bassette coming into the side for Ellis Simms and Victor Torp. Corberan recalled Mason Holgate into his starting line-up.
The visitors immediately posed the first threat as Bassette broke the offside trap and burst into the penalty area, but Torbjorn Heggem’s last-ditch challenge came to the rescue.
West Brom drew first blood in the 11th minute thanks to a bit of fortune.
Tom Fellows caused problems down the right and managed to get a shot away, but it was blocked into the path of Mowatt who drilled through a crowded penalty area off Eccles and beyond Brad Collins.
Tatsuhiro Sakamoto failed to make contact with Ephron Mason-Clark’s delivery towards the far post and let West Brom off the hook.
Coventry looked the more threatening to get an equaliser before the break, this time a neat combination of play between Sakamoto and Bassette set Eccles free, but he was denied by Alex Palmer.
The away side once again fluffed their lines in front of goal when Milan van Ewijk crossed into a teasing area, but Torp’s header took the ball off the toes of Jack Rudoni who was waiting behind to put into an empty net.
Coventry dominated the second half but could not find a way past Palmer, with former Albion forward Brandon Thomas-Asante sending a cross to Sakamoto who saw his header saved at the far post.
Against the run of play, West Brom all of a sudden had a two-goal cushion.
Grant gathered the ball deep inside Coventry territory and a lovely bit of footwork took three defenders out of play before he expertly buried into the bottom corner to give West Brom a much-needed three points.
The managers
West Brom’s Carlos Corberan:
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Coventry’s Frank Lampard:
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