West Brom captain urges Berahino to work his way back into first-team plans

Stephane Sessegnon, a player who has paid the price for taking the long way home, is showing Saido Berahino there is a route back into Tony Pulis’s team.

The Benin winger fell out of favour with the West Bromwich Albion head coach last season after taking a £400 taxi home from Newcastle upon being left out of a matchday squad but he has worked his passage back into the starting XI and was the bright spark who set up Saturday’s win over Stoke City.

Darren Fletcher, the West Brom captain, believes Sessegnon can offer the perfect example for Berahino, who was a West Brom substitute for the ninth successive time here.

Berahino, a transfer target for Tottenham Hotspur last summer and likely to be the subject of more interest, was unable to earn a start even with Salomon Rondon and James McClean suspended and Victor Anichebe injured.

Only after Jonathan Walters headed an equaliser and Geoff Cameron was sent off was Berahino thrown into the fray five minutes from time before Jonny Evans stole in to score West Brom’s winner.

Sessègnon earned warm words from his captain after this latest positive contribution.

“He’s been fantastic. He didn’t feature much at the beginning of the season but his attitude has been great,” Fletcher said.

“The manager demands a lot physically and Sess has responded to that. Saido is a great kid who is not in the team right now but this might be a good learning experience for him.”

Berahino will have to decide whether he wants to earn his place but the longer he spends on the bench, the fewer chances he has to prove he is worth the attentions of Spurs or Liverpool.

Stoke will decide today whether to appeal against the red card shown to Cameron for slapping Claudio Yacob that is set to bring a three-match suspension and rule him out of tomorrow’s Capital One Cup semi-final against Liverpool.

The longer-term challenge for Stoke, who established themselves in the Premier League under Pulis, is to learn how to perform against the likes of West Brom as they do against Manchester United and Chelsea.

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