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.
Hull City 3-3 Ipswich Town: Tigers fight back three times to deny Tractor Boys
Ipswich Town missed the chance to move into an automatic promotion spot as play-off-chasing Hull City came from behind three times in a thrilling 3-3 Championship draw at The MKM Stadium.
Ipswich knew a victory would take them second after Leeds United were surprisingly beaten 4-0 by Queens Park Rangers on Friday, and they led on three separate occasions, George Hirst opening the scoring before Omari Hutchinson produced two brilliant strikes from the edge of the area.
However, buoyed by slip-ups from rivals Norwich City and West Brom earlier on Saturday, Hull dug deep to fight back on each occasion, Ozan Tufan and Liam Delap scoring their first two equalisers.
With Liam Rosenior's men 3-2 down with just four minutes to play, substitute Noah Ohio blasted his shot in off the crossbar to punish an error from Ipswich goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky.
The result keeps Ipswich behind second-placed Leeds on goal difference, though the Tractor Boys have a game in hand to come at Coventry City on Tuesday.
Hull, meanwhile, are two points adrift of the top six, with Norwich's goal difference advantage meaning their top-six spot is all but assured. The Tigers will, however, leapfrog West Brom if they beat Plymouth Argyle on the final day and Albion lose to Preston North End.
Data Debrief: Hutchinson's best not enough
Hutchinson was a man who deserved to be on the winning side on Saturday, giving Ryan Allsop no chance with two near-identical left-footed strikes from the right corner of the penalty area.
His goals came from an expected goals (xG) total of just 0.6, and he led all players on the pitch for shots (eight) and passes in the final third (21), also laying on three chances for his team-mates.
Al-Khaleej 0-1 Al-Nassr: Ronaldo misfires on return as Laporte nets winner
Cristiano Ronaldo returned from suspension but failed to find the net as Al-Nassr secured a 1-0 win over Al-Khaleej on Saturday, with Aymeric Laporte coming up with the decisive goal.
Ronaldo was in action for the first time since being sent off for an elbow in a 2-1 Saudi Super Cup loss to Al-Hilal earlier this month, with his initial two-match ban being reduced to one on appeal.
He missed three good chances as Al-Nassr threatened to fall further behind runaway Saudi Pro League leaders Al-Hilal, but former Manchester City defender Laporte spared his blushes by nodding Marcelo Brozovic's deep free-kick into the bottom-left corner with 68 minutes gone.
Al-Nassr remain nine points adrift of Al-Hilal at the summit in spite of their win, with Jorge Jesus' team unbeaten through 28 games this season as they close in on a record-extending 18th title.
Data Debrief: Ronaldo misfires on return
Ronaldo was presented with the Saudi Pro League's Player of the Month award for March ahead of kick-off, having scored four goals in three league appearances last month.
However, his sights were off on Saturday as he failed to net despite three of the visitors' four big chances, as defined by Opta, falling his way. He led all players on the pitch for expected goals (1.27 xG), shots (five), shots on target (three) and touches in the area (nine) without reward.
Huddersfield all but relegated from Championship while League Two play-off spots decided
Huddersfield Town saw their relegation from the Championship all but confirmed after a 1-1 draw with fellow strugglers Birmingham City on Saturday.
The Terriers avoided a defeat that would have seen them relegated on Saturday, but even a win on the final day over promotion hopefuls Ipswich Town will not be enough unless they overcome a huge goal difference of 15 goals with Plymouth Argyle.
Birmingham remain in the other relegation place and now must beat Norwich City to stand a chance of staying up with Sheffield Wednesday, Plymouth and Blackburn Rovers also still in danger.
At the other end of the table, the Canaries dropped points in a 2-2 draw with Swansea City, leaving the door open for Hull City, who face Ipswich Town later today.
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