Summary: West Brom kept themselves on course for a top-half finish with an impressive victory against Southampton at St Mary’s that saw three players sent off.

The Baggies haven’t dropped below ninth all season and returned to form on the south Coast, although they were aided by a wretched performance from the home side branded ‘the worst defeat’ in his short time at the club by boss Mauricio Pochettino.

Snapping straight into their stride Steve Clarke’s men were ahead in the sixth minute as Marc Antoine-Fortune stabbed home from close range after Romelu Lukaku headed a corner into the six-yard area.

Lukaku would have to wait until the second half to get his name on the scoresheet as Fortune returned the earlier favour, sending the young Belgian through on goal to round Artur Boruc and net his 14th of an excellent campaign.

Referee Robert Madley, presiding over his first top-flight match, then took centre stage as he correctly sent off Gaston Ramirez for elbowing Shane Long in the 70th minute and then Fortune for raising his hands at the Saints man in the aftermath.

Long then put the game beyond all doubt as he raced through and confidently tucked the ball under Boruc, before Danny Fox was dismissed for a crude tw0-footed lunge on Steven Reid with seven minutes to go.

Mauricio Pochettino post-match…”This is the worst defeat we have had here at Southampton [in his time at the club]. The team did not have any positive impact. We need to review the red cards but more importantly we need to review our performance, we were not really good today.”

Steve Clarke post-match…”There is no coincidence that the team works hard and we get a clean sheet. It has been a difficult second half of the season but we did a lot of work in the first half of the campaign. Hopefully now we can pick up a few more wins towards the end of the season.”

Good day for…Shane Long: Chances have been limited for the Irishman this term but he always proves a threat when called upon by Steve Clarke. Was a constant menace to the Southampton back four, buzzing in and around the penalty area, and deservedly got himself on the scoresheet after the break.

Bad day for…Gaston Ramirez & Danny Fox: Both players saw literally saw red in the second half as they were both dismissed by rookie referee Robert Madley. The elbow from Ramirez on Long was petulance of the highest order, while Fox’s abhorrent two-footed lunge on Reid rightly earned him an early bath.