Ninety minutes of nerves, a month of worry and three decades of torment, all wiped away in one moment of elation.

Graham Dorrans’ historic late winner finally scratched a 30-year itch for West Brom as they tasted victory at Stoke for the first time since 1982.

But the win that was secured by the Scot’s stoppage-time strike had significance well beyond mere historical trivia.

The long-awaited but richly-deserved success in the Potteries sent out a clear message to those who had started to fear the Baggies’ bubble had burst.

It wasn’t a pretty victory for Roy Hodgson’s men. But in a perverse way, that was precisely the point.

Since battling to a hard-fought home draw with the millionaires of Manchester City on Boxing Day, Albion’s season has hit a tricky spell that left many supporters concerned their side had begun a slump towards another depressing end to the campaign.

Victory in a howling gale at the Britannia Stadium was the perfect way to allay those fears.

It still might not be plain sailing for the Baggies to secure an unprecedented third straight season in the Premier League.

But if Saturday’s triumph proved anything, it was that Hodgson’s injury-hit troops are in no mood to roll over.

Both the result and the way it was achieved spoke volumes for the character that now underpins everything Albion do.

Having dominated proceedings in atrocious conditions and headed into the dying moments with a hard-earned lead, the visitors were rocked back by a cruel equaliser with just five minutes to go. Yet still they found the resolve to gather their thoughts, press again and clinch the win.

Whatever creases Hodgson still has to iron out in the Baggies’ make-up – and the last three weeks have suggested there are plenty – his side are rarely found wanting for bottle.

On the back of three successive league defeats, the last thing Hodgson and Co needed was a trip to their ‘bogey ground’ on a day when storm-force gusts made the Britannia Stadium even less inviting than normal for a club who had not won on Potters property since Cyrille Regis was in his pomp.

It was the ultimate test of spirit for the beleaguered and depleted Baggies squad.

And they passed it with flying colours.

In truth, the hoodoo-breaking victory should have arrived far more comfortably, such was the advantage Hodgson’s side held for much of the game.

But the end of such a dismal sequence at the Potteries’ more daunting venue was never likely to come easily.

And the Baggies duly made their shivering but boisterous supporters sweat before sending them home with a glorious memory to thaw their wind-chilled bones.

Predictably, the game was not a classic. Yet what it lacked in beauty, it more than made up for in excitement, especially in a second-half that was stocked full of incident.

The Baggies began that second act with their noses in front, courtesy of a 35th-minute James Morrison strike that left Stoke keeper Thomas Sorensen red-faced as it curled late and squirmed past his belated attempts to readjust.

And they were good value for their lead, having seen Simon Cox put a good chance wide and Sorensen push a goal-bound Morrison drive onto the woodwork.

If the first half was largely uneventful, the second period fizzed with excitement, starting when the excellent Marc-Antoine Fortune, who led the line with conviction following a surprise call to arms, had a shot blocked by Robert Huth.

Morrison sent a fine volley against the woodwork and Cox missed a glorious chance from a Ben Foster clearance.

Foster looked to have clinched the points when he saved Jon Walters’ low penalty after referee Anthony Taylor had pointed to the spot inexplicably following a collision between Walters and Albion’s Gareth McAuley, who won the ball perfectly.

But when Cameron Jerome glanced in Jermaine Pennant’s free-kick with five minutes remaining, it appeared the Baggies’ profligacy had been punished again.

That was until Morrison was felled by Walters and Dorrans bent his free-kick through the Potters’ wall and into the bottom corner.

It was hardly short-sleeve weather, but the Baggies fans in attendance could have been forgiven for ordering their commemorative t-shirts on the final whistle.

It was a moment for proclaiming ‘I was there’. But better than that, it was a day when Albion answered some crucial questions.

By Steve Madeley