In Spain, pointed out Michael Laudrup, when officials make an error as egregious as that perpetrated by the assistant referee Lee Betts to deny Swansea City a deserved point from this match, they might be quietly dropped for a few games.

"They call it going into the freezer," said Swansea's Danish manager, with an understandably somewhat rueful smile.

Something similar can happen here, of course. Last year Stuart Attwell was dropped from the Premier League's elite list and returned to Football League duty after a series of high-profile mistakes. But while it was Betts who flagged Roland Lamah offside as the City winger put the ball in the net with three minutes remaining after it had reached him via a combination of the Albion defender Gareth McAuley and their goalkeeper, Ben Foster, the referee, Lee Mason, was equally culpable. Mason, who had a poor game, should have seen the ball was last played by not one but two Albion players, and informed his linesman accordingly.

"It's a little strange because sometimes a referee will make a decision then go to the linesman and change his decision. But when the linesman is making a wrong decision I have never seen that they speak together and the referee then says: 'No, it's a goal.' It's curious," said Laudrup.

It probably didn't make him feel any better that his Albion counterpart, Steve Clarke, readily agreed Lamah's "goal" should have stood, though the Scot maintained it was a slice of fortune his side had deserved for hanging on when they were thoroughly outplayed during the first half.

Luke Moore's headed opener against his former club was the least Swansea deserved, but Albion equalised against the run of play when Romelu Lukaku swept the ball home from six yards, the on-loan Chelsea striker's 13th league goal.

Lukaku then had a penalty saved by Michel Vorm before Angel Rangel's attempt to clear a McAuley header off his line saw the ball rebound off Jonathan de Guzman and back into the net.

The three points hoisted the Baggies into seventh and talk of possible qualification for the Europa League is growing, both in the stands and, despite Clarke's insistence to the contrary, among the players. "I think we can do it," said the midfielder James Morrison. "We've got a little target and hopefully we can reach it, but we're not going to get carried away because it's a tough 10 games to go."

Clarke appeared less convinced. "It's going to be difficult. There is only fifth position that is guaranteed a Europa League spot, and for us to get that we would have to go past Arsenal and Everton, while Liverpool have a game in hand.

"What is realistic is we can get to 50 points. That's what I said at the start of the season, and I don't think that will be good enough to get us into Europe. From where we are [on 43 points] to get to 55 would be difficult."

Swansea's clinical dismembering of poor Bradford City at Wembley two weeks ago means they have already qualified, of course, but Laudrup is quietly pleased his players have not lost focus. Having signed a contract extension last week, he was asked whether he had received assurances he would be able to strengthen his squad to cope with the increased demands that will be made of them next season.

"Being in Europe doesn't mean we'll have a larger squad," he replied. "I don't believe in too big a squad. Of course there will come some new players, strengthening certain positions, but I don't think it's the moment to talk about who's coming, who's leaving because we have nine games to go. The most important players are those who are working here now. But of course backstage we still work because we can't wait until the 20th of May."

Man of the match Romelu Lukaku (West Bromwich Albion)