Leon crashes party

Ryan Shawcross celebrated his birthday in fine style with a first-half header as Stoke threatened to maintain their extraordinary hold over West Brom.

The defender, 20 today, claimed his third goal as Albion once more struggled against the visitors.

Incredibly, Stoke have only been beaten once in their last 21 games against the Baggies.

West Brom had started at a clip and in the first 20 minutes at least four shots were blocked by various red and white shirts.

Gradually though, Albion began to lose their fizz. John Eustace brought a save from home goalkeeper Dean Kiely that will have impressed the fans behind him but they were less than happy when Stoke grabbed a 27thminute lead shortly afterwards.

West Brom's defence failed to clear a corner that allowed Liam Lawrence to collect the ball after Dominic Matteo's half-hit shot rebounded out to the left.

The midfielder swung over a cross that was nodded beyond Kiely by Ryan Shawcross for a goal to talk about on his 20th birthday today.

But Albion persevered in the second half and in the 73rd minute Filipe Teixeira's free kick was headed back across goal by Zoltan Gera and Leon Barnett stooped to nod the ball past Steve Simonsen.