West Bromwich Albion held off a second-half fightback from Crystal Palace to make it back-to-back wins in the Premier League and leapfrog the Eagles into 13th place this evening.
The Baggies looked to be cruising to all three points when they raced into a three-goal lead inside 31 minutes, but Palace fought back through a brace from Connor Wickham in the second half to give themselves late hope.
However, they fell just short of a remarkable turnaround and are now winless in their last 10 Premier League matches since before Christmas.
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The hosts' clinical first-half display began in the 12th minute when they took the lead through Craig Gardner, who stroked a simple finish into the empty net after Wayne Hennessey had kept Salomon Rondon's powerful drive out in unorthodox fashion.
It was 2-0 shortly afterwards as Gardner turned provider with a free kick into the middle that an unmarked Craig Dawson nodded home with a textbook downward header into the bottom corner.
A third arrived shortly after the hour mark as West Brom, who had only scored 24 goals all season before today, seemingly wrapped the game up in double-quick time through Saido Berahino, who applied a skilful finish to the pick of the Baggies' bunch.
Rondon collected a volleyed pass into his feet before feeding it out to Stephane Sessegnon on the right flank. The winger then proceeded to float an inch-perfect pass over the defence for Berahino, who cushioned his first-time half-volley past a helpless Hennessey.
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Things almost got even better for the Baggies before half time when Gardner powered a long-range free kick towards goal that skewed off Joel Ward and span against the foot of the post.
A lengthy period of first-half stoppage time, caused by an injury to Chris Brunt, provided Palace with their first threatening moment of the match when Ward picked out Jordon Mutch, but the midfielder's low strike towards the bottom far corner was cleared off the line.
That near miss, coupled with the half-time introduction of fit-again Yannick Bolasie, seemed to give the Eagles a boost and they came out for the second half as an almost unrecognisable side, pulling a goal back inside two minutes of the restart.
It stemmed from a Jonas Olsson error as the defender left a ball over the top for Ben Foster, allowing Wickham to steal in, lift the ball over the keeper and stroke home a cool finish for his first league goal of the season from open play.
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There were shouts for a Palace penalty when Gareth McAuley barged into Scott Dann from a corner moments later, but referee Jonathan Moss barely had time to contemplate pointing to the spot before West Brom broke up the other end and hit the woodwork for a second time through Berahino's curling effort towards the top corner from the edge of the box.
The Baggies were able to weather the early Palace storm in the second half and settle things down, and they came close to adding a fourth when Sessegnon's low strike forced a save from Hennessey.
Palace were once again denied a strong penalty shout moments later when Bolasie went down under the challenge of Darren Fletcher, before Joe Ledley fired a long-range effort well over the crossbar.
The visitors did pull a second goal back with 10 minutes remaining, however, and it came in some style as Wickham arrowed an unstoppable first-time volley into the top corner after the ball had broken to him on the left side of the area.
The hosts came under late pressure as Palace looked for an equalising goal, with Gardner being forced to clear one off the line, but they eventually held out to pick up only their second league win in their last seven games.
Palace, meanwhile, remain winless since December 19 and drop to 14th in the table having picked up just one point from the 24 available so far in 2016.
Barney Corkhill
