Roman Bednar’s second-half goal was enough for West Bromwich Albion to defeat Fulham in the Premiership clash at the Hawthorns on Saturday.

With today’s victory, the Baggies have made their best-ever start to the league campaign with 10 points from seven games, rising up to seventh position. The Cottagers, however, remain on six points after six games.

The first half saw few clear-cut chances with Fulham midfielder Zoltan Gera wasting a great chance to put Roy Hodgson’s side in the lead when the Hungarian international side-footed inches wide against his former club.

Bednar could have got the home side in the ascendancy earlier than he finally managed to do, as he drove his shot straight at keeper Mark Schwarzer, before finally sending the home fans into ecstasy with a close-range stab at the hour mark.

There were a couple of chances missed by both sides as Clint Dempsey headed wide from 10 yards for the Cottagers and Ryan Donk sent his header on the goalpost from Jonathan Greening’s cross from left wing.

Tony Mowbray’s side finally broke the deadlock following a corner as Fulham failed to clear their lines and Bednar fired home from under the arms of Australian international Schwarzer.

In the closing stages, Bednar could have made it a double, but the Czech international saw his 35-yard shot clipping the crossbar before going out of play.

Teams:

West Bromwich Albion: Carson, Zuiverloon, Donk, Olsson, Robinson, Morrison (Cech 79), Koren, Greening, Valero, Miller (Moore 64), Bednar.

West Bromwich Albion Substitutes not used: Kiely, Hoefkens, Barnett, MacDonald, Pele.

Fulham: Schwarzer, Paintsil (Stoor 82), Hughes, Hangeland, Konchesky, Davies, Bullard, Murphy (Andreasen 87), Gera, Zamora (Ki-Hyeon 71), Dempsey.

Fulham Substitutes not used: Zuberbuhler, Nevland, Kallio, Baird.