AFP, Birmingham :
Venezuelan Salomon Rondon scored a rare hat-trick of headed goals to extend West Brom’s recent good home form and help consign Swansea to more away woe in the English Premier League on Wednesday.
The 3-1 result saw West Brom jump up to seventh in the table while Swansea languish in the last relegation spot in 18th.
Swansea, missing Ki Sung-Yueng and Federico Fernandez because of toe injuries, enjoyed the majority of possession in the first-half, West Brom enjoying the better chances with Rondon twice going clear.
In the quarter of an hour building up to the break, Rondon had two clear opportunities, Swansea goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski first using his feet to keep out what would have been a certain goal after Nacer Chadli set up the Venezuelan.
Fabianski earlier rushed out from his line to punch the ball away from Rondon’s path after the striker was put through by a Leon Britton error.
Rondon eventually proved to be the undoing of Swansea, heading home from close range an inswinging Matt Phillips free-kick early in the second half.
That proved to be a good omen for the home side, West Brom never having lost when Rondon has scored.
To prove the point, that was followed by two more headed goals in short succession, twice Chris Brunt drifting crosses to the far post to be met by the ever-willing Rondon.
With his third goal, just 13 minutes after his first, the Venezuelan became only the second player to score a Premier League hat-trick of headers after Duncan Ferguson, who did it for Everton against Bolton in December 1997.
