West Brom grateful to Grady Diangana as Coventry are humbled at The Hawthorns
- Simon Wilkes
- 3 February 2023
Grady Diangana was West Brom's hero as his 15th-minute goal secured a 1-0 win over Coventry City at The Hawthorns on Friday night which moved them into the Championship play-off places.
Carlos Corberan's side clinched a sixth home league win and clean sheet in a row - and Albion have not conceded a goal at home in all competitions in more than 11 hours of football - 697 minutes.
After being knocked out of the FA Cup at Bristol City last time out, West Brom were good value for their return to winning ways after Jed Wallace hit the post and missed other chances, while Daryl Dike spurned two opportunities.
They were forced into an unexpected change with goalkeeper Alex Palmer out injured, so there was a recall for David Button.
In an open, end-to-end start to the game, there were excellent chances at both ends.
But it was the hosts, boosted by a quality supply of deliveries from debutant Marc Albrighton and Wallace, who had the better of them.
Dike missed a glorious chance to put Albion ahead when he headed over from Albrighton's cross.
Coventry had the chance to punish that miss soon afterwards but Viktor Gyökeres could only glance across the face of goal from Jamie Allen's centre.
Albion responded with a shot from Wallace, who fired over the bar from the edge of the area.
Wallace almost rounded off a fine move but hit the base of the post and Diangana just failed to convert the rebound.
But Albion took the lead with quarter of an hour played when Diangana made no mistake from close range after Wallace nodded on a long throw-in from Darnell Furlong.
Wallace then curled comfortably over the bar with a first-time effort from a corner before he was only inches away with an angled shot after cutting out a pass and surging in from the left.
Albion had the first opening of the second half when Dike was put clean through by Okay Yokuslu's pass but he failed to lob goalkeeper Ben Wilson.
Coventry, who had plenty of possession for long spells of the second half, made a treble substitution in the 61st minute with the introduction of Josh Wilson-Esbrand, Josh Eccles and Matty Godden.
But they struggled to break down a resolute Albion defence not used to conceding in front of their own fans.
The Sky Blues threatened with a Gustavo Hamer free-kick that Button pushed away, but Gyökeres should have done better from the edge of the box when he blazed over following Allen's pass.
