By David Dulin BBC Sport at the Liberty Stadium

Swansea 0-2 West Brom

A controversial Graham Dorrans penalty set West Brom on their way to a vital win over promotion rivals Swansea.

Referee Roger East awarded the 79th-minute spot-kick after substitute Giles Barnes appeared to go down softly under Angel Rangel's challenge.

Ishmael Miller then wrapped up the win after rounding keeper Dorus de Vries and slotting home from close range.

Swansea, whose automatic promotion hopes now look slim, went close through Nathan Dyer and Mark Gower.

But West Brom's chances of claiming second spot look healthy after opening up an eight-point lead over third-place Nottingham Forest, who lost at Barnsley.

The win also puts the Baggies a point behind leaders Newcastle, who have two games in hand.

Tuesday's Liberty Stadium clash had been billed as the battle of the Championship's best defence against the division's top scorers.

Swansea had conceded just 23 times all season before the game and were targeting a club record-equalling 22nd clean sheet.

In stark contrast, West Brom have been scoring goals in abundance, notching up 71 in 36 games.

But the Swans took control of proceedings, showing no signs of the pre-match claims by Baggies boss Roberto Di Matteo that they were not adventurous, which he reiterated after.

They won an early free-kick in the right-hand corner for Jonas Olsson's foul on Darren Pratley and Gower's resulting delivery found Monk, who failed to direct his header goal-bound.

Pratley was causing much of the problems early on but it was Dyer who had a chance to break the deadlock on 13 minutes when he dispossessed Meite on the edge of the box before curling just over.

Shortly afterwards, Dyer was denied by the upright with a cross-cum-shot before Gower later blasted over.

West Brom were camped in their own half for long spells and it started to take its toll with Olsson warned over dissent before Dorrans was booked for a rash tackle on Rangel.

A rare visit to Swansea's penalty area saw Dorrans drive the ball across the face of goal without troubling De Vries.

But Swansea posed more of a threat and good work started by Shefki Kuqi eventually found Gower on the left to drill a low shot across the six-yard box, but it was too strong for Dyer.

And two minutes before the break, Pratley was brought down on the edge of the box by Luke Moore but Gower wasted the chance.

Di Matteo brought on Gianni Zuiverloon for the injured Olsson at the break as West Brom came out with more intent.

And three minutes in, good work by Dorrans found Moore who forced De Vries to turn away his angled shot at the near post.

West Brom's Ishmael Miller scores his side's second goal

The visitors were enjoying more of the possession early in the second half as the game opened up, but it was Scott Carson who was called into action next saving from Alan Tate's 20-yard drive.

And then Dyer skipped past three challenges to curl into Carson's arms from the edge of the box.

West Brom threw on Miller and he almost crept in after Ashley Williams misjudged the ball, but Tate made a last-ditch tackle to deny him.

The match seemed destined for a 0-0 draw until the 79th minute when Miller's fellow substitute Barnes won the controversial penalty which Dorrans converted off the post for his 15th goal of the season.

Swansea made a double substitution with David Cotterill and Craig Beattie coming on for Dyer and Gower, and almost immediately, Beattie felt he should have had a penalty as he went down under Meite's challenge.

But as the Swans pressed for a leveller, they were hit on the break and Miller drove into the box and rounded De Vries before slotting home from close range.

Swansea City manager Paulo Sousa:

"From my view, I felt the referee was going to give a yellow card to the player because he dived. After seeing it from different angles, I'm right.

"It's something we are used to. I've spoken so many times about the referees and decisions and I have my point of view about these things.

"When I complain, it's only for the game of football because referees play an important part.

"I like a lot of respect for the work of my players, myself and the club. The players deserve respect."

West Brom manager Roberto Di Matteo:
"Most important for us was to get something out of this game. We are very pleased that we managed to win the game.

"We knew they don't concede many goals and on the other hand they don't score many goals. They are not very adventurous in committing players forward.

"We always have the chance to score one. The longer the game went on, we knew our chances would increase.

"It was a clear penalty, there's no discussion about it. He put the ball past the defender, the defender brought his leg out and brought him [Barnes] down.

"We've put ourselves in a good position and we've worked very hard to be in this position and we have our own destiny in our own hands."

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