Roman Bednar was virtually unknown when he arrived in the summer on loan from Hearts but his surprise move to the Hawthorns is looking increasingly likely to end with him testing Premier League defenders next season. Bednar appears to be one of the shrewdest pieces of business outside the top flight this season after the powerful Czech forward added his 12th goal of the season to an increasingly productive campaign.
Tony Mowbray, the Albion manager, surprised many when he opted not to significantly strengthen his league leaders in the January transfer window but believes his current squad have the potential to earn promotion. And Bednar is proving an unlikely secret weapon. His towering header on the hour secured Albion their 16th win of the season and lifted them three points clear of Bristol City.
In another wildly unpredictable Championship season, with such a shortage of quality sides, at least the one certainty is that West Brom will be playing their football in a higher division next season.
That they achieved this victory without ever hitting their effervescent heights should provide Mowbray with optimism for the coming months as Burnley were frustrated in their attempts to add Albion to their list of Championship scalps.
Burnley's form away from Turf Moor is the second best of any team in the Championship and they have already secured notable wins over their promotion rivals including Watford, Wolves and Charlton. And after seemingly finding the solution to their frustrating home form, optimism is building about a shot at the playoffs.
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Andrew Cole has agreed to move down a division for the remainder of the campaign and Owen Coyle, the Burnley manager, will be hopeful that the Sunderland forward can repeat his influential role of last season when he helped ease Birmingham City over the line to promotion.
The impressive recent form of Ade Akinbiyi meant Cole started on the bench but the new recruit will have been impressed as the visitors took a surprise lead after just four minutes.
There are few better players outside the Premier League than Robbie Blake when it comes to delivery from set pieces and his free kick, from just outside the box, found David Unsworth whose header was diverted past Dean Kiely by James O'Connor, a former West Brom player. It was a goal that stunned the Hawthorns as O'Connor had rarely troubled opposing goalkeepers, let alone scored, during his spell there.
The goal unsettled West Brom, usually so rampant at home, and Chris McCann and Wade Elliott only added to the tension by both driving narrowly wide from 20 yards.
In search of an equaliser, West Brom's approach work was polished and fluent but Kevin Phillips and Bednar were forced to resort to efforts from long range.
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Burnley had not been threatened before the home side equalised in the 26th minute through an unlikely source. Jonathan Greening's corner found Bostjan Cesar, the Slovenian centre-half, and he displayed a predatory instinct to acrobatically hook the ball home, making a mockery of the fact it was his first goal for the club. If that was spectacular, Zoltan Gera nearly outdid Cesar just after the half hour with an excellent 20-yard scissors kick, from Bednar's flick, that hit the side netting.
But it was still a disjointed display by Mowbray's side with Phillips, in particular, not having one of his better afternoons. The second half had been devoid of activity until Bednar rose to powerfully head Paul Robinson's cross in off the post. Bednar's goal forced Coyle to bring on Cole for Akinbiyi but by then, the points were heading only one way, with the home side in the ascendancy.
They looked on course to confirm their dominance in the 68th minute when Jon Harley, the Burnley defender, hacked down Robert Koren in the box. Koren duly picked himself up to take the spot kick but his penalty was tame and Jensen, another former Albion player, pushed it away.
In a rare counter-attack from Burnley, Cole nearly made an immediate impact when he collected Graham Alexander's long pass and although he managed to bypass Kiely he ran out of pitch to find the target. Burnley mounted a late spell of pressure but it appears nothing is going to halt West Brom's inexorable climb towards the Premier League - with Bednar proving a vital component.
Star man: Robert Koren (West Brom)
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Player ratings: West Brom: Kiely 6; Hoefkens 6, Robinson 7, Albrechtsen 7, Cesar 7; Koren 8, Greening 6, Gera 7, Morrison 7; Phillips 5 (Beattie 61min), Bednar 7 (Teixeira 76)
Burnley: Jensen 7; Alexander 7, Harley 6, Varga 6, Unsworth 7; McCann 6 (Randall 68min), Elliott 7, O'Connor 7, Gudjonsson 6 (Spicer 80), Blake 7; Akinbiyi 5 (Cole 61min)
Scorers: West Brom: Cesar 26, Bednar 60 Burnley: O'Connor 3
Referee: M Pike
Attendance: 22,206