Managerless West Bromwich Albion ended a run of 10 successive away defeats as they came from behind to win their FA Cup third-round tie at Championship rivals Swansea City on penalties.
After a tepid goalless first half in regular time, the game burst into life as Jisung Eom put the Swans ahead with a fine curling effort three minutes after the restart, only for Josh Maja to scramble the Baggies level five minutes later.
Swansea missed several chances as the match entered extra time, with Malick Yalcouye hitting the post before Jed Wallace’s powerful first-time hit gave West Brom the lead.
But another swift reply saw Zeidane Inoussa score his first goal for the Swans to take the game to a shootout.
The first 10 penalties were all scored: Ben Cabango, Jay Fulton, Ethan Galbraith, Cameron Burgess and Zeidane Inoussa for Swansea; Aune Heggebo, Isaac Price, Callum Styles, Karlan Grant and Jed Wallace for West Brom.
The three misses came at the sudden death stage, with Swansea’s Bobby Wales seeing his spot-kick saved by Josh Griffiths before he was given a reprieve when Chris Mepham blazed over.
But after Malick Yalcouye followed suit by clearing the bar, Ollie Bostock blasted his penalty into the top left corner to take the Baggies through to the fourth round.
They will discover their opponents when the draw is made on Monday evening.
This was a repeat of a league fixture here only 10 days earlier – Jay Fulton’s second-half strike giving the Swans a 1-0 win – and it was far more memorable.
A week and a half is a long time in football. In that time, West Brom had sacked head coach Ryan Mason and put former Baggies midfielder James Morrison back in charge temporarily.
Having fulfilled the same role following Tony Mowbray’s dismissal last season, Morrison was this time tasked with ensuring his side avoided an 11th successive away win for the first time since the 1926-27 campaign.
Both he and his Swansea counterpart Vitor Matos named strong line-ups, but this was a slow burner.
A lack of intensity on the pitch reflected the patchy crowd at the Swansea.com Stadium, and it took half an hour for Eom to register the game’s first shot on target.
There were other first-half efforts which went fairly close – Daryl Dikey’s strike for West Brom, Zan Vipotnik glancing wide for the Swans – but this looked like a match that neither club particularly wanted.
Luckily, the second half was a different story. Whereas the first period produced only two shots on target, the opening 10 minutes after the interval yielded twice as many, including two goals.
Eom opened the scoring with a flourish, receiving the ball just inside the penalty area, shifting it on to his right foot and bending a fabulous finish into the top far corner.
West Brom equalised five minutes later, as Swansea failed to deal with Callum Styles’ corner and Maja bundled in from close range.
Melker Widell almost restored Swansea’s lead swiftly and in spectacular style but his sweetly struck overhead kick was straight at Baggies goalkeeper Griffiths.
The Swans squandered further opportunities in normal time and extra time, most notably with Yalcouye hitting the base of the post.
That looked costly when Wallace whipped in a confident finish from Bostock’s low cross but Inoussa converted Josh Key’s cutback to take the game to penalties.
The first 10 spot-kicks were scored and, after Yalcouye’s miss, it was left to West Brom academy product Bostock to win the game for his team.
