W Brom 3 – 0 Peterboro

West Brom conducted a late, late show at The Hawthorns as they scored three times in the final 11 minutes to see off lowly Peterborough and reignite their promotion charge.

Cedric Kipre, Karlan Grant and Grady Diangana all found the net in the closing stages after an otherwise defiant defensive display by Posh.

Albion manager Valerien Ismael handed January signing Daryl Dike a first start and he was presented with a host of opportunities before leaving the field injured in the second half.

Darnell Furlong was sent racing down the right-hand side by captain Jake Livermore and his cross was glanced towards goal by Dike – but that header fell just the other side of the far post.

Albion, frustrated by Posh’s deep lines of defence, went close again a quarter of the way into the game when Livermore’s drilled shot from the edge of the area into a packed penalty area found its way to Dike again. The USA international had perhaps more time than he realised, because he forced the ball hurriedly towards goal and Steven Benda in the visiting goal claimed the ball comfortably.

Chance number three came only moments later when Dike powerfully nodded over another inviting delivery from the right, this time from the boot of centre-half Kipre. The 21-year-old forward met another Kipre cross within a minute of the restart, but it was a similar result.

Ismael sent for Diangana, who breathed a little life into the hosts’ play in the final third. He fired straight at ‘keeper Benda after neat build-up play involving Matt Phillips.

The home crowd became increasingly restless as the game wore on, due in no small part to the excellent job Peterborough were doing in frustrating, breaking up play and defending to the hilt.

Albion did, though, get their breakthrough in the 79th minute. A dangerous corner from the right was not dealt with and Furlong latched onto the loose ball before firing it at goal. It cannoned off team-mate Kipre and found its way into the corner of the net.

That opened up the game a little for the closing stages with Darren Ferguson’s team now in need of an equaliser if they had any desire to snatch a result – and that played into West Brom’s hands.

Substitute Callum Robinson won the ball in central midfield and he laid on a terrific through ball for the hosts’ top scorer Grant. He raced onto it and fired low at Benda’s near post to hand Albion breathing space.

The late show was complete with Diangana’s final flourish. Again Robinson was the supplier and the winger chested the ball down and delicately placed it into the net for his second goal of the season.

What the managers said…

West Brom’s Valerien Ismael: “Until the first goal, it was the story of the season so far. As always with a good story, there was a happy ending. Hopefully we can now take the next step on Wednesday. The game was how we expected, the opponent came, didn’t want to play, wasted time and tried to take time from the clock – they didn’t shoot once on target. You have to stay calm, to stay patient.

“We have to deal with these situations at the minute, to change the story, to force the ball over the line and that goal set the energy free and it was much easier for the players. We got impact from the bench again finally, with Robbo and especially Diangana. It’s helped me and my staff to make better decisions when we have all the players together and we have the possibility to change the way of the game from the bench. We just need to keep going, continue to win games and the next one is very important for us because it gives us the possibility to win again.”

Peterborough’s Darren Ferguson: “I can’t believe we lost that game 3-0. For so long, I just couldn’t see them scoring. Our shape was very good and then, all of a sudden, it was 3-0 in 10 minutes. So, I am massively disappointed. We didn’t look that threatening as we couldn’t get the first pass off, but we came to do a job and that was to frustrate them. They were booed off at half-time, although I would have liked us to have been more threatening.

“The longer the game went, I thought we might create something on the counter attack, but it’s a really bad habit we have of conceding late goals so I’m not happy with that. The goal conceded was a naive way of playing. We were playing a quick free-kick against the best pressing team in the league. We gave away too many passes but we conceded from a set-piece and when you put that much hard work in, it’s a huge disappointment. It looks like we have been absolutely battered but we haven’t been.”