Sofiane Boufal wonder goal gives Southampton win against West Brom

When Southampton broke their transfer record to sign Sofiane Boufal last summer, they were surely dreaming of match-winning moments like this. He started the move inside his own half, jinking past five West Bromwich Albion players before tucking the ball low beyond Ben Foster. Just four minutes after coming on and five minutes from time, the Morocco forward earned Mauricio Pellegrino’s side a well-deserved victory.

Boufal arrived with a reputation for the spectacular and this mazy run and finish will find its way on to his showreel. First he robbed Allan Nyom, who then crashed into his team-mate Craig Dawson as Boufal bamboozled his way past a sea of navy and white shirts before coolly slotting home. Southampton supporters have been starved of such magic, Boufal being on the periphery of this team and having flattered to deceive since his £18m move from Lille. As Tony Pulis put it, Boufal “can drift in and out of games”.

For Pellegrino, it was a case of sheer relief after watching his team dominate the match against a desperately poor Albion side. For Boufal, he had seized his chance.

“Most of my players deserve to play but this is a team sport – you have to wait for your opportunity,” Pellegrino said. “I think it was one of the most beautiful goals this season. I am happy for Sofiane and my players because we needed three points. Hopefully this [result] will give us more confidence in the next few games.”

By the time these teams kicked off, the vidiprinter had thrown up an unwanted headache of scores that only heightened the importance of taking victory here, while Storm Brian was moving in for the night. Results elsewhere had pulled both West Brom and Southampton closer to the relegation zone. This victory pushed Saints back in the right direction, into mid-table, after three matches without a win.

Before the game Pulis had insisted his team are evolving but the numbers make increasingly grim reading for Albion. They are two points above the relegation zone and have won just two of their last 18 league matches. A miserable evening for them was compounded by injuries to the captain, Jonny Evans, the midfielder Gareth Barry and Craig Dawson, who limped down the tunnel as a result of that clash with Nyom, by which point Pulis had run out of substitutes.

West Brom somehow survived a first-half onslaught from Southampton in which Oriol Romeu and Shane Long both missed from close range. Ryan Bertrand also went close when his free-kick fizzed on to Ben Foster’s post via Evans’s head. Pulis altered things eight minutes into the second half, replacing Barry with Gareth McAuley and moving to a back three. Shortly after, the former Southampton striker Jay Rodriguez was guilty of missing his side’s best and, in reality, only real chance. He skewed horribly wide after latching on to a fine Grzegorz Krychowiak through-ball.

“We were much better when we changed it, we were much more competitive,” Pulis said. “We have the best chance of the game really but unfortunately it did not go for the kid. If he scores that, we probably win the game.”

Pellegrino was reluctant to change things too soon but summoned Nathan Redmond with 20 minutes to play, before Charlie Austin and Boufal entered after 81 minutes. Redmond made an immediate impact, with his crossfield ball fortuitously finding Dusan Tadic, who shot straight at Foster before appearing to be fouled by the West Brom keeper. The referee, Graham Scott, was unmoved.

But just as it looked as though a winner would elude them, Boufal emphatically delivered, stealing possession in his own half before finding a stunning winner.