West Bromwich Albion 2-0 Rotherham United – Baggies ease to victory over Millers

Brandon Thomas-Asante (left) celebrated his 12th goal of the season with its architect Adam Reach

West Bromwich Albion bolstered their place in the Championship play-off slots as they comfortably saw off already-relegated Rotherham United.

First-half goals from Brandon Thomas-Asante and a highly controversial John Swift penalty helped cement the Baggies’ half-season-long stranglehold on fifth place.

With four games left, Carlos Corberan’s side are six points behind fourth-placed Southampton – four ahead of sixth-placed Norwich City and, most crucially, nine clear of seventh-placed Coventry City.

But they needed the help of a colossal refereeing blunder to guarantee their 20th league win of the season on the back of three straight draws.

Albion led on 23 minutes when recalled left-back Adam Reach skinned his marker out wide before crossing for unmarked top scorer Thomas-Asante to score his 12th goal of the campaign – from less than a foot out.

But the Baggies’ second goal a minute in first-half injury time was almost comical – although not for Rotherham, following the weekend confirmation of relegation back to League One.

Thomas-Asante powered in a fierce right-foot shot from well outside the area, which Rotherham defender Lee Peltier tried to block, only for the ball to smack him in the face, covered by his outstretched protecting arm.

But not only did referee Geoff Eltringham wrongly view it as handball, he adjudged that it happened inside the penalty area, when in fact Peltier was at least a yard outside the box.

Mr Eltringham booked one of Rotherham’s coaching staff, Rob Kelly, the former Wolves and Albion assistant manager, for the severity of his protest.

John Swift’s late first-half penalty was his ninth goal of the season

Swift then drilled home from the spot for his ninth goal of the season – and it seemed like it was a question of just how many Albion would win by.

But Albion had a much-changed side missing illness-hit skipper Jed Wallace, having made four alterations.

Instead, in front of their meagre following of just 179 away fans, in a weirdly subdued atmosphere, including new owner Shilen Patel at Albion’s third-lowest home gate of the season, Rotherham put in a spirited second-half display and were not breached again.

The Millers have 14 players out of contract this summer and are obviously in for a summer shake-up under Leam Richardson – but there were at least signs of hope for next season.

Who’s next?

Albion are at home again this Saturday, when they host unpredictable Sunderland.

Rotherham are again on their travels, at Swansea.

West Bromwich Albion head coach Carlos Corberan told BBC Sport:

“I did not see a video of the penalty incident but I knew from the level of protest from the Rotherham bench that there was doubt.

“I hope to see the team compete at their best level from now until the end of the season.

“Every game is hard but we need to keep going and achieve something unbelievable.”

Rotherham United boss Leam Richardson told BBC Sport:

“The penalty is a wrong one, a poor one and it changes the whole outcome of the game.

“It’s a shot which hits him outside the box and in the face too. I’ve not seen that before.

“We had an assessor tried to get in the dressing room and I’ve been told about similar decisions this season and apology letters, but I’ve got no time for any of that.

“It’s not been good for us since I’ve been in the job. But we were always always in the game and we looked good on the counter attack.”

Line-ups

West Brom

Formation 4-2-3-1

24Palmer

2Furlong5Bartley4Kipré20Reach

22M’Vila35Yokuslu

31Fellows19Swift23Johnston

21Thomas-Asante

24Palmer2Furlong5Bartley4KipréSubstituted forAjayiat 64’minutes20Reach22M’Vila35YokusluSubstituted forChalobahat 64’minutes31FellowsSubstituted forPhillipsat 75’minutes19Swift23JohnstonSubstituted forDianganaat 64’minutes21Thomas-AsanteSubstituted forMajaat 83’minutesSubstitutes3Townsend6Ajayi9Maja10Phillips11Diangana14Chalobah17Weimann27Mowatt33Griffiths

Rotherham

Formation 5-4-1

1Johansson

28Revan22Odoffin21Peltier24Humphreys3Bramall

18Rathbone12Rinomhota8Clucas7Ribeiro Dias

29Nombe

1Johansson28Revan22Odoffin21PeltierSubstituted forFergusonat 81’minutes24Humphreys3BramallSubstituted forSerikiat 80’minutes18Rathbone12RinomhotaBooked at 87minsSubstituted forHattonat 90+1’minutes8ClucasSubstituted forAppiahat 80’minutes7Ribeiro Dias29NombeSubstituted forEavesat 83’minutesSubstitutes9Eaves14Wyke17Ferguson26Phillips30Appiah38Seriki42Hatton

Referee:Geoff Eltringham

Attendance:22,331