West Bromwich Albion 2-0 Rotherham United – Baggies easily take victory over Millers

West Bromwich Albion consolidated their place within the Championship play-offs by comfortably beating already relegated Rotherham United.

With 4 games remaining, Carlos Corberan’s side are six points behind fourth-placed Southampton – 4 clear of sixth-placed Norwich City and, crucially, nine points clear of seventh-placed Coventry City.

However, they needed the assistance of a colossal refereeing error to secure their twentieth league win of the season after three straight draws.

Albion took the lead within the twenty third minute when dismissed left-back Adam Reach passed the keeper before crossing to unmarked top scorer Thomas-Asante and scoring his twelfth goal of the season – from just below a foot.

However, the Baggies’ second goal in first-half stoppage time was almost comical – although not for Rotherham, following weekend confirmation relegation back to League One.

Thomas-Asante fired a strong right-foot shot from far outside the box, which Rotherham defender Lee Peltier tried to dam, however the ball hit him within the face, shielded by his outstretched hand.

But referee Geoff Eltringham not only wrongly ruled it a handball, he ruled it had happened within the penalty area, when in truth Peltier was at the least a meter outside the penalty area.

Eltringham disciplined certainly one of Rotherham’s coaching staff, Rob Kelly, former Wolves and Albion assistant manager, on account of the seriousness of his protest.

Swift then hit a penalty kick for his ninth goal of the season and it gave the impression to be a matter of what number of goals Albion would win by.

However, Albion’s squad has modified significantly, apart from stricken captain Jed Wallace after 4 changes.

Instead, in front of a skinny crowd of just 179 away fans, in an oddly subdued atmosphere that included recent owner Shilen Patel for Albion’s third-lowest goal of the season, Rotherham put in a rousing second-half performance and were unaffected again.

The Millers have 14 players out of contract this summer and are obviously facing a summer change under Leam Richardson, but there have been at the least signs of hope for next season.

Who is next?

Albion will likely be at home again this Saturday once they host unpredictable Sunderland.

Rotherham travels to Swansea once more.

West Bromwich Albion head coach Carlos Corberan told BBC Sport:

“I didn’t see the video of the penalty incident but I knew from the level of protests on the Rotherham bench that there were doubts.

I hope that from now until the end of the season the team will compete at their best level.

“Every match is difficult, but we have to keep playing and achieve something unbelievable.”

Rotherham United coach Leam Richardson told BBC Sport:

“The penalty is wrong, wrong and changes the whole result of the match.

“It’s a shot that hits him outside the box and also in the face. I’ve never seen anything like this before.

“We had an assessor trying to get into the dressing room, I was told about similar decisions this season and letters of apology, but I don’t have time for that.

“Things haven’t been the best since I’ve been in this job. But we were always in the game and looked good on the counterattack.”