If there were any concerns about Ryan Mason’s ability to mix it in the cut and thrust of the Championship in his maiden managerial role, then this battling West Brom victory, which punctured the mood at early pacesetters Stoke, ought to silence them.
Mason had seen two vital members of his side depart in the days before the trip to the Potteries and had to watch from the stands as he served a touchline suspension. That did not prevent his team torpedoing Stoke’s 100% start to the campaign with a win which was as hard-fought as it was deserved, as Nat Phillips’ 14th-minute goal from a set piece proved the difference.
West Brom are no longer in receipt of parachute payments so the exits of Tom Fellows and Darnell Furlong to recently relegated duo Southampton and Ipswich respectively are understandable. Yet there was no sense that any belief had drifted away with the two departees, as Mason stressed afterwards.
“The personality and quality everyone showed was super-pleasing for me,” he said. “We’ve lost a few players this week. We lost Darnell who was wearing the captain’s armband. And with Tom, anyone that comes through the academy and makes a mark on the first team is pretty special. So we showed an incredible amount of personality on the back of losing two key players.
