Striker Lee Hughes grabbed his 31st goal of the season as Denis Smith's West
Brom kept alive their dreams of a top-six spot with this convincing victory
over Stockport.
Kevin Kilbane and Fabian de Freitas found the net for Albion before the lethal
Hughes took full advantage of a defensive blunder to boost his tally for the
campaign.
County, unbeaten in their previous four outings, had not conceded a goal in
nearly 400 minutes but they were sliced open at the back by Albion's fast
penetrating football.
But Gary Megson's men, to their credit, continued to battle and they pulled a
goal back through Martin McIntosh.
It was Albion who seized the initiative and they opened the scoreline in the
18th minute when Kilbane grabbed his first goal in 16 games.
The Republic of Ireland winger lashed in a superb left-footed shot that took a
deflection off Rob Matthews before flying wide of keeper Carlo Nash.
It was 2-0 in the 52nd minute when Albion defender Matt Carbon caught the
County defence flat-footed with a marvellous cross-field pass to de Freitas.
The big Dutch striker chested the ball down before giving the helpless Nash no
chance with a well-placed shot from 10 yards.
Hughes stretched Albion's lead on the hour when County skipper Mike Flynn
nodded the ball straight to his feet as he tried to clear.
Hughes was then left with the simple task of blasting the
ball past Nash from the edge of the six-yard box.
The scoreline was completed in the 75th minute when Albion keeper Phil
Whitehead stopped but failed to hold a header from Brett Angel.
The ball flew to McIntosh and he made no mistake with his header at the far
post.
It was Albion's first success in six games.
Teams
West Brom: Whitehead, McDermott, Potter, Flynn, Burgess, Carbon,
Quinn (Angel 78), Sneekes, De Freitas, Hughes, Kilbane,Angel (Maresca 90).
Subs Not Used: Murphy.
Booked: Quinn.
Goals: Kilbane 18, De Freitas 52, Hughes 60.
Stockport: Nash, Gannon, Dinning (Grant 66), Smith, Flynn,
McIntosh, Matthews (Cooper 66), Cook (Mannion 66), Angell, Ellis,Connelly.
Booked: Matthews.
Goals: McIntosh 75.
Att: 11,801
Ref: P Dowd (Stoke-on-Trent).
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook