Sheffield Wednesday suffered their heaviest home defeat of the season on Saturday as promotion hopefuls West Brom breezed past a tame Owls challenge.
A scintillating first half performance by the Baggies swept SWFC aside as Simon Cox's brace and a Jerome Thomas strike made sure the points were comfortably stored in the travel bag.
Former Owls ace Chris Brunt - influential throughout on his return to Hillsborough - struck a late goal to round off a comprehensive victory.
Wednesday made one change from the side the posted a point at Ipswich last Saturday. Leon Clarke started up front in place of Luke Varney, who dropped down to the bench. New loanee duo Warren Feeney and Tom Soares were both named as substitutes.
The Owls were out of the traps apace, unaware of the storm to follow, with Marcus Tudgay testing Scott Carson straight from the kick-off. The former Owls loanee goalkeeper saved comfortably before Lee Grant twice showed his mettle at the other end; firstly tipping Luke Moore's shot on the turn over and then diving low to divert a daisycutter from Brunt.
Thomas took a tumble in the area on eight minutes after a race for the ball with Grant but referee Eddie Ilderton waved away Baggies appeals for a penalty.
That hardly matter to Albion, though, as they deservedly took the lead in the 23rd minute. Graham Dorrons swung a corner over right into the danger zone and Cox was on hand to volley home his fourth goal of the season.
The Owls responded with James O'Connor sending a looping shot into Carson's midriff but that was a rare foray upfield by Wednesday as WBA largely had control of the game.
And the visitors' superiority was underlined on the half-hour mark as they doubled their lead. Brunt took a pass down the left from Thomas into his stride and drilled a low cross to the back post, where Cox was on hand to fire into the back of the Kop net from close range.
Brunt was at the hub again two minutes later, picking out Moore with a clever through-ball but the latter blasted high over the crossbar.
Wednesday were then fortunate not to concede a penalty when Tommy Spurr clattered into Cox as the Midlanders continued their dominance.
But another goal was on the cards and duly arrived seven minutes before the break, when Thomas went on the overlap before taking a pass from Cox and shooting hard and low across Grant to all but kill off what had rapidly developed into a one-sided contest.
Owls boss Brian Laws made a change before half time with Spurr making way for Mark Beevers; Lewis Buxton switched across to the left back berth.
New signing Soares came on for Jermaine Johnson at the interval as Wednesday desperately needed a spark. Varney entered the fray for Marcus Tudgay and although the Owls' drive improved in the early throes, the final ball was lacking and they could have gone further behind on 56 minutes when Albion broke on the counter and Moore's well-struck effort whistled narrowly wide.
Cox escaped down the left flank and cut inside before flicking just wide and the former Swindon man went closer still nine minutes from time with a rasping drive from distance that only just missed the target.
Much as they tried, the Owls could not find a way through, leaving Brunt to inevitably strike the final blow on 84 minutes with a low drive across Grant.
Owls: Grant, Simek, Hinds, Buxton, Spurr (Beevers 39), Gray, O'Connor, Potter, Johnson (Soares 46), Clarke, Tudgay (Varney 55)
Unused substitutes: O'Donnell, Esajas, McAllister, Feeney
West Brom: Carson, Zuiverloon, Cech, Olsson, Meite, Brunt, Dorrans, Jara, Thomas (Mulumbu 68), Cox (Thorne 88), Moore (Wood 76)
Unused substitutes: Kiely, Martis, Reid, Bednar
Referee: Eddie Ilderton
Attendance: 20,824
