Andy Hinchcliffe blown away by ‘outstanding’ West Brom moment v Stoke City as Sky footage emerges
Andy Hinchcliffe hailed Brandon Thomas-Asante for his “outstanding” goal to draw West Brom back on level terms against Stoke City.
Thomas-Asante had struggled to get involved in Sunday’s (17 December) Championship contest prior to his moment of brilliance in the 35th minute.
The 24-year-old blasted home a low strike just inside the Stoke penalty area to cancel out Lynden Gooch’s fortuitous opener.
“This is such a good strike,” Hinchcliffe said on Sky Sports’ live coverage of the match [17 December, 12:37pm].
“He’s backing away from goal, the ball’s dropping over his shoulder – it’s such a sweet strike.
“The finish is outstanding. He’s not had too many touches, but that was emphatic on the turn. No chance for the keeper.”
Out of nowhere
West Brom struggled to get going in the first half of their clash with Stoke City and supporters had been growing restless by the time Thomas-Asante produced a moment of magic.
Incredibly, Thomas-Asante had managed just eight touches of the ball up to that point – five fewer than any other home player [WhoScored].
Not only was the Albion centre-forward unable to get on the ball, he left his team-mates frustrated on more than one occasion with his movement.
Yet any good striker only ever needs one chance to change the narrative, and Thomas-Asante did that with his well taken low finish.
Darnell Furlong deserves huge praise for keeping the attack alive, with Stoke trying to usher the ball out of play for a goal-kick, and Thomas-Asante was alert to the loose ball after Okay Yokuslu’s initial shot was thwarted.
That was Thomas-Asante’s second goal in three outings, so hopefully this is now the start of a hot run of form for the 24-year-old.
In other West Brom news, a first-team regular was left out of Albion’s squad for the match with Stoke.