Brandon Thomas-Asante eased dominant West Brom back to winning ways with a 1-0 Championship victory over 10-man Norwich after the visitors had Borja Sainz needlessly sent off in the first half at The Hawthorns.
Thomas-Asante grabbed the all-important goal in the 50th minute to cement West Brom’s position of fifth in the table.
But Norwich were forced to play almost an hour with 10 men after the Spanish winger was dismissed for two bookable offences, the second one dissent.
Carlos Corberan’s side were good value for their second win in six as they created chances galore – virtually all from man of the match Jed Wallace – with John Swift hitting the post.
West Brom dominated the first half-hour and should have been comfortably in the lead.
Swift was the chief culprit, missing no fewer than six openings of various difficulty.
Two early hopeful long-range shots from the former Reading forward flew high and wide before he volleyed against the woodwork from Wallace’s inviting cross on the run.
Swift then sent a floating header high and wide from Okay Yokuslu’s cross before the 28-year-old missed his kick in front of goal after Wallace teed him up again.
The game appeared to swing even more towards Albion when Sainz’s dramatic five minutes started with a 30th-minute booking for bringing down Grady Diangana.
Swift’s dipping shot from 30 yards was tipped away by goalkeeper Angus Gunn before Sainz’s shot was saved by Alex Palmer.
Within 60 seconds, Sainz hooked the ball inches wide after Jonathan Rowe got a faint touch to flick on a long throw-in.
But the Spaniard picked up a second yellow card – for dissent in the 34th minute – to leave his team a man down.
The hosts returned to the attack and Thomas-Asante sent a shot on the turn straight at Gunn.
Norwich head coach David Wagner clearly had defence on his mind as he replaced striker Ashley Barnes and winger Rowe with centre-backs Grant Hanley and Danny Batth at half-time.
But it made little difference as Thomas-Asante finally broke the deadlock.
The striker scrambled home his eighth goal of the season from two yards out after Diangana headed Wallace’s cross goalwards.
It remained one-way traffic and efforts from Diangana, Swift’s chip and Darnell Furlong all went wide, all three chances from Wallace’s assists.
But Palmer had to be alert and he made a vital one-handed save from substitute Ui-Jo Hwang to keep Albion’s lead intact.
Tonali set for August return after receiving suspended two-month ban from FA
Sandro Tonali has been given a suspended two-month ban by the Football Association (FA) after admitting to breaching gambling rules.
The sanction means the Newcastle United midfielder will be eligible to return to action on August 27, 2024, when his 10-month suspension issued by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) expires.
FIFA ratified that ban, causing it to become applicable worldwide, after Tonali admitted to placing bets on matches as part of an investigation into unregulated betting platforms in Italy.
In March, the FA charged Tonali with breaching English football's gambling rules 50 times between August and October last year, leading to fears his spell out of the game could be extended.
However, on Thursday it was confirmed that the FA had suspended Tonali's punishment for the duration of the 2024-25 season, meaning he can return in August if he does not reoffend.
In a statement, Newcastle said: "Sandro Tonali has been given a suspended two-month ban from competitive football by an independent regulatory commission after self-declaring breaches of FA betting rules.
"He has also been fined £20,000 and warned by the FA as to his future conduct.
"Provided that he does not commit any further breach of the FA betting rules during the suspension period, Sandro will not serve any part of the two-month sanction.
"As acknowledged by the FA in the independent regulatory commission's written reasons, the level of assistance Sandro has provided by self-referring and fully cooperating with a subsequent investigation is extraordinary and unprecedented.
"Sandro is continuing to follow a therapeutic plan and educational programme with the club's full support and will continue to train with his team-mates."
Tonali's initial ban has limited him to just eight Premier League appearances since he joined Newcastle from Milan in a £55million deal, while he will also miss Italy's Euro 2024 campaign.
Will Still leaves Reims job with immediate effect
Will Still has left his role as Reims head coach with immediate effect, the Ligue 1 club announced on Thursday.
Still took over as Reims boss – initially on an interim basis – after Oscar Garcia was sacked in October 2022 and went unbeaten through his first 19 league games at the helm.
The 31-year-old was eventually handed the role on a permanent basis and led Reims to an 11th-placed finish in Ligue 1 in 2022-23, with his lack of a UEFA Pro Licence causing the club to be fined €25,000 per match until he began the course.
Reims are currently 11th in Ligue 1 again, though they are winless in their last five games and have lost each of their last three.
In a statement, the club said: "Following a meeting this morning between president Jean-Pierre Caillot, general manager Mathieu Lacour and head coach Will Still, it was mutually agreed that the two parties would not continue the sporting adventure together next season.
"In order to allow Reims to confidently look forward to the next year, it was also decided that Will Still and his deputy Nicolas Still would step down from their respective functions as of today."
Still was linked with the Sunderland job earlier this season and said in February that he would be open to joining an "ambitious" Championship club.
Coventry City 1-2 Ipswich Town: Burgess puts Tractor Boys on brink of promotion
Ipswich Town took a huge step to Premier League promotion after Cameron Burgess snatched a second-half winner in Tuesday's 2-1 victory over Coventry City.
Kieran McKenna's side require just one point from their final Championship game against League One-bound Huddersfield Town to go up, after a decisive victory at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
Kieffer Moore blasted in an eighth-minute opener for the visitors after Wes Burns' crafty cutback pass, easing the pressure on Ipswich and dampening the top-two hopes of third-placed Leeds United.
Haji Wright levelled in the second half, only for Burgess to squeeze a winning goal past Bradley Collins five minutes later, putting Ipswich on the brink of top-flight football for the first time since their relegation in 2002.
A draw against Huddersfield, who are 23rd and three points adrift of safety, would secure promotion at Portman Road, marking just the fourth instance of back-to-back promotions in the Premier League era.
Having managed to climb out of League One, McKenna's entertaining side would join Watford, rivals Norwich City and Southampton as the only sides to achieve the feat.
Data Debrief: Ipswich end winless run at perfect time
Prior to this game, only five teams had won fewer points in the Championship than Ipswich's six since the beginning of April (W1 D3 L1).
Yet McKenna's men refused to let their top-flight push derail as the Tractor Boys ended a four-game winless run to move within touching distance of history.
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