Sarmiento strike gives West Brom win at Cardiff

Jeremy Sarmiento's goal was his just his second since joining West Brom on loan from Brighton

West Brom moved up to third in the Championship as Jeremy Sarmiento's fabulous second-half strike proved the difference at Cardiff City.

The Ecuadorian attacking midfielder, on loan from Brighton, then put the Baggies ahead with a fine whipped effort which dipped and curled into the far corner.

Cardiff struggled to create many genuine chances as they searched for an equaliser and were limited to long-range shots from Josh Bowler and Rubin Colwill.

West Brom's win closes the gap on Ipswich Town in the second automatic promotion spot to seven points, but Kieran McKenna's men will have a chance to restore their advantage at home to Millwall on Wednesday.

As for Cardiff, defeat sees them slip to eighth in the table, three points adrift of the play-off places.

They had briefly climbed into the top six on Saturday with a dramatic late comeback win at Preston - but lasted only a couple of hours there as West Brom ended Ipswich's 12-match unbeaten run at the Hawthorns.

As disappointed as Erol Bulut and his players will be to lose this game, being in their current position still represents a huge improvement on the previous two seasons and their successive battles against relegation.

For West Brom, meanwhile, six points from their two tricky matches suggests Carlos Corberan's side are in promising form as the promotion race intensifies with the looming festive fixture pile-up.

This game had the makings of intriguing encounter as seventh met fifth in the Welsh capital and, despite starting at a lively pace, it lost some of its momentum when the visitors were dealt an early setback as captain Jed Wallace was forced off with what looked like a shoulder injury.

West Brom still posed a threat, however, and they came close to taking the lead after half an hour when Grady Diangana led a rapid counter-attack from a Cardiff corner and found Sarmiento, whose shot rolled off the post.

Cardiff had a chance of their own soon afterwards as Bowler weaved between opposition defenders before seeing his shot smothered by Alex Palmer.

From that point, neither side managed to create any clear-cut opportunities but, fortunately for West Brom, Sarmiento only needed half an opening.

After darting down the left wing, the Ecuador international cut on to his right foot and, from an unfavourable angle, lashed a shot which arced over Cardiff goalkeeper Alex Runarsson and into the far corner.

West Brom should have doubled their lead after 76 minutes but substitute Brandon Thomas-Asante headed over from close range.

Cardiff pressed for an equaliser in the closing stages but, other than speculative long-range efforts from Colwill, Bowler and Manolis Siopis, they did not really trouble the Baggies.