West Brom 0 Stoke 1 - match analysis and pictures

That way, we could have all got some Christmas shopping done or even better watched England thrash the All Blacks.

Because Albion v Stoke at The Hawthorns is the Groundhog Day of football fixtures, treading the same tedious path each year towards the same conclusion – the Baggies, driven to despair by their failure to break down one of the Premier League's most unforgiving defences, coughing up a late chance from which Tony Pulis' team take all three points.

What will hurt Albion more this time is that a second successive defeat plays into the lobby of opinion which argues their early-season position is false and cannot possibly be maintained.

It is up to Steve Clarke and his players to present an argument against that over the next few weeks but, from the peak point of that victory at Sunderland which took the team third, Albion have been outplayed by Swansea and squeezed into submission by this familiar bear hug from the Potteries.

Stoke's game has moved on, thankfully, from the days of the Rory Delap long throw but it is still a grim force of nature and even the best Albion team for more than 30 years could make nothing of it.

For the first time this season, The Hawthorns fans departed having failed to see their team land a punch of any significance on an opposition keeper until Asmir Begovic defied Graham Dorrans from Albion's best effort for an equaliser, seven minutes from the end. It didn't matter what Clarke's men conjured up to that point, Stoke's massed ranks of defiance beat it away.

The head coach was right to accentuate the positives of Albion's position after the game; of course. But defeat by Stoke always feels like a defeat for the team brave enough to play more than just the percentages and the sting is more keenly felt as a result.

Clarke will also save time for a personal 'debrief' and question the wisdom of the rotations which have back-fired since the Stadium of Light illuminated Albion's profile.

After a couple of changes at Swansea, Clarke opted for six against Stoke. Albion may have a fund of inter-changeable and creative players but against Stoke they never quite found the cohesion and rhythm that is their forte.

The most notable absence was James Morrison's, who was given a breather on the bench, offering the under-used Markus Rosenberg a first Premier League start.

You had to feel a little for the Swede – all season he has waited to catch a break and when he does, he's got Ryan Shawcross and Robert Huth waiting for him.

But it was a difficult game for Rosenberg and not one which will advance his case for future opportunities, especially as Shane Long appeared to spend the game wondering where his regular attacking partner was.

It is difficult to know where Albion's labours end and Stoke's jarhead discipline begins because the wall of red and white shirts that thwarted every advance refuses to be budged from its business.

Even the introduction of Peter Odemwingie, bringing extra pace down one flank and a further capacity for the unexpected amid Stoke's penalty area gridlock, could not do the trick.

And the gamble you take with Odemwingie as a wide player would be a feature in the game's deciding moment – although not the only one.

I wonder what caused Jonas Olsson, Albion's most dependable of defenders, to suffer such a fateful lapse of concentration in the 75th minute.

My money would be on the frustration brought about by Stoke's stubborn tenacity but instead of clearing to Row Z another 'lump it and chase' offering gamely pursued by Kenwyne Jones, a mithered Olsson tried to keep the ball in play.

It was a rash if understandable snap of patience. Michael Kightly, having advanced beyond Odemwingie in support of Jones, gobbled up the stray clearance and quickly plonked it into an Olsson-free area for Dean Whitehead to sweep home.

It was Stoke's only meaningful effort on target all afternoon but one which will continue to justify the unremitting Pulis game plan. There was time for that one effort from Dorrans and the chance to consider the positives for Albion – the outstanding form of Youssouf Mulumbu and the return of Steven Reid chief among them.

But to be honest? I'd rather have been watching the All Blacks getting flayed...

By Martin Swain