Ten-man West Brom kept the pressure on Manchester City and Wolves as Bob Taylor gave them a vital 1-0 win against play-off chasing rivals Coventry.

The Baggies went into the game knowing a win would see them go level on points with second-placed Wolves and delay the Maine Road club's promotion to the Premiership.

Gary Megson, making his 100th appearance as manager of West Brom, dropped Scott Dobie to the bench and handed Taylor his first start in four months while Phil Gilchrist passed a late fitness test.

For Coventry, Roland Nilsson made four changes to the side beaten by Sheffield Wednesday on Friday.

Youssef Chippo, Mo Konjic, Ysrael Zuniga and John Eustace replaced Richard Shaw, David Thompson, Barry Quinn and Jay Bothroyd.

Albion suffered a scare in the opening minute and goalkeeper Russell Hoult was tested when he was forced to save from ex-Albion striker Lee Hughes.

But the Baggies responded when a cross from Igor Balis found the head of Taylor but it was parried away by Magnus Hedman.

Both teams made a lively start and there were chances at each end.

Eustace, who was making his second start since recovering from a from a broken leg, created several early chances while Balis also forced a clearance from Horacio Carbonari.

On 15 minutes, it was promotion-chasing Albion who took the lead.

Taylor put them after picking up a perfect pass from Jordao to score from six yards out.

Hughes and Eustace continued to cause the West Brom defence problems as they pushed forward in a bid to find an equaliser but their shots lacked any power to be dangerous.

Just as the half-hour approached, Taylor had the chance to double the visitors lead although Konjic was up to the task and blocked the chance.

At the other end, Colin Healy had an equally good opportunity to bring Coventry back into the game but his effort went wide of the goal.

Nilsson was forced to make a change in the second half and the injured Gary Breen was replaced by Marcus Hall and he was called into action almost immediately as he cleared a shot from Balis.

Coventry continued to search for the elusive equaliser in a bid to get their own play-off hopes back on track but Stan Varga was on hand to clear a Hughes shot while Colin Healey's 20-yard shot went wide of the target.

Megson swapped Danny Dichio for leading scorer Dobie as they aimed for a second goal to kill the game off while Nilsson threw Bothroyd on in place of Hughes as they tried to salvage something.

In the following three-minute spell, Coventry had chances from Healy, Youssef Safri and Zuniga but all were dealt with by Russell Hoult.

West Brom were reduced to 10 men for the final seven minutes when substitute Trevor Benjamin saw red following a bad challenge on Konjic.

It was a very nervy final few minutes for Albion and deep in injury time Konjic almost snatched a point when he latched onto a cross from Carbonari but it was safely gathered by Hoult to earn the visitors a valuable win.

Teams:

Coventry: Hedman, Chippo, Konjic, Carbonari, Breen (Hall 45), Trollope, Safri, Eustace (McSheffrey 77), Healy, Zuniga, Hughes (Bothroyd 68).

Subs Not Used: Hydlgaard, Betts.

Booked: Konjic, Eustace, Healy, Safri.

West Brom: Hoult, Balis, Varga, Moore, Gilchrist, Clement, Jordao, McInnes, Adam Chambers (Lyttle 87), Taylor (Benjamin 62), Dichio (Dobie 62).

Subs Not Used: Fox, Petterson.

Sent Off: Benjamin (84).

Goals: Taylor 16.

Att: 21,513

Ref: G Poll (Tring).