West Brom produced an impressive performance to beat Leicester 2-1 at The Walkers Stadium.
West Brom prevail 2-1 at Walkers Stadium
West Brom produced an impressive performance to beat Leicester 2-1 at The Walkers Stadium and open up a four-point cushion over third place.
The Foxes had been unbeaten in their previous six matches but they were stunned by two goals in the space of three minutes just before half-time and could not recover.
Graham Dorrans opened the scoring for the Baggies in the 37th minute and Gonzalo Jara made it 2-0 moments later, meaning Bruno Berner's late effort was mere consolation for Leicester.
Bright start
West Brom started well, and Luke Moore had three chances inside the opening 20 minutes.
First, he dragged a shot across goal after Jerome Thomas' lifted pass had set him free down the left side of the area.
Dorrans then slipped a ball down the opposite side of the Leicester defence, but Moore's shot was blocked by a sliding challenge from Wayne Brown.
The third opportunity was more clear-cut, and the former Aston Villa trainee should have really given West Brom the lead.
Overlapping right-back Gianni Zuiverloon sent a low cross into the box. Moore looked certain to score as he arrived unmarked. His shot from 10 yards was struck well enough. But it was too close to Chris Weale, and the Leicester goalkeeper saved with his legs.
The hosts quickly created two chances of their own midway through the first half.
Strike pairing Matty Fryatt and Martyn Waghorn played a neat one-two on the edge of the box. But Albion goalkeeper Scott Carson read the danger and was quickly out to save at Waghorn's feet.
The on-loan Sunderland teenager was then denied by Carson again, after controlling Richie Wellens' driven ball into the box and shooting on the turn.
Dorrans then gave West Brom the lead after Leicester captain Matt Oakley clipped Thomas' heels on the left-hand side of the area.
From the resulting free-kick, Dorrans appeared to mis-hit his shot. But the ball squirmed underneath the defensive wall and into the bottom corner beyond Weale, who must have seen it late.
Three minutes later, Albion doubled their lead. Jara laboured towards goal, looking to offload the ball after collecting it in midfield. The Chilean, a £1.4million summer signing, saw he had no support and unleashed a shot from 30 yards that swerved and bounced in front of Weale and into the net.
Contest
Leicester had a glorious chance to halve the deficit immediately after the restart.
Substitute Paul Gallacher, who replaced Oakley late in the first half, fluffed his lines from three yards out after failing to properly connect with Fryatt's low cross.
Weale kept Leicester in the contest with a trio of saves before the hour. He smothered another effort from Moore and got down by a post to push Chris Brunt's header to safety, before palming a well-struck Thomas shot wide.
At the other end, Carson was out quickly to the edge of his six-yard line to block Fryatt's shot.
Jara could have put the game beyond Leicester in the 72nd minute, after Weale spilled the ball when coming to the edge of his area to collect. But his curling shot sailed over the unguarded goal.
West Brom had another chance to make sure of the three points seven minutes later, but Moore's lob over the advancing Weale hit the bar - and Brown averted the danger.
Dorrans then sent a shot just wide as he attempted to round off a flowing Albion attack soon afterwards.
Berner stabbed home the rebound from close range, after Carson had parried Gallacher's free-kick. But it was too little too late.
