Wilfried Bony sent the Swansea head coach, Paul Clement, dancing down the touchline with relief as his late winner sealed a vital 1-0 victory over West Brom.

In the final stages of what had been a woeful encounter lacking in real Premier League quality, Bony, the captain, lashed the ball home after Albion failed to clear Ki Sung-yueng’s corner. The goal sent the Liberty Stadium wild and sealed what could yet be a huge three points for the hosts, who moved off the bottom of the table.

“It’s a nice feeling to get the win and it was one we really needed,” said Clement. “It was a scrappy game, but we just about deserved to come out on top. We deserved it and I was really pleased with the impact of the substitutions. They made a real difference.

“We got over the line in a narrow, scrappy game and it’s a great feeling. My celebrations were a mixture of frustration with some of our previous results and a feeling of delight that we’d got the win. The players stood up in a big game and really put the effort in.”

For West Brom, this was a poor result and means Alan Pardew’s men stay firmly in relegation trouble. Clement, rightly, did not care one jot as his team emerged victorious.

“I felt we had to go for it and we got all three points. I thought we struggled to get Wilfried into the game in the first half, but his winner was a big moment for everybody,” he said.

“The most important thing was a positive result and we move on to Manchester City on Wednesday now with a bit of momentum behind us.”

Clement had insisted in the run-up to this game that any pressure on him was from external sources. Denying any claims he was one game from the sack, the former Bayern Munich assistant was not helped by fellow strugglers West Ham picking up a surprise 1-0 win at home to Chelsea in the day’s early kick-off.

Clement certainly rolled the dice with his selection, making four changes to his side and giving shock starts to Nathan Dyer and Wayne Routledge either side of Bony in attack. Renato Sanches was dropped from the squad altogether.

West Brom manager Alan Pardew has picked up one point, with no goals scored, in his first two games in charge. Photograph: McManus/BPI/Rex/Shutterstock

Alfie Mawson headed an early Ki corner over for Swansea but it was the visitors who dominated the early possession. Salomón Rondón had their first chance and, given their poor league position, it was no surprise to see Clement’s men lacking confidence.

In truth, it was a poor-quality affair. Just before the break, Tom Carroll’s set piece was headed against his own post by Jake Livermore as he attempted to clear. The result was the first period ending scoreless.

West Brom introduced James McClean for Sam Field in an attacking half-time change but the second period followed a similar theme to the first. Bony shot wide after a neat turn and in Swansea’s first substitution Clement replaced Routledge with Jordan Ayew.

Almost immediately Ayew curled an effort over the bar as the game turned into a tense affair. Carroll put a free-kick into the wall when he should have done better and then Robson-Kanu wasted a glorious opportunity when he crossed wildly out of play on a West Brom counterattack.

There was still time for more one more attacking change from Clement and he went for broke, Tammy Abraham joining Bony in attack. The gamble paid off. Ki’s second corner in quick succession found its way to Bony and he made no mistake, lashing the ball past Foster.

Albion pushed for an equaliser but it failed to arrive as Swansea edged home despite Abraham missing a sitter to make it 2-0 late on when clean through on goal.

Pardew said: “I wasn’t disappointed with the effort and endeavour we showed. It was a close game, you could always sense that, and there wasn’t much between the two sides.

“There were defensive errors and we lacked a little bit of conviction in the final moment. We didn’t really create enough either, but having said that, midway through the second half we had some crucial chances and we let those moments pass us by.

“Robson-Kanu had the best moment in the game. It would have been a tap-in for either Jake or Rondón, but he overcooked it.

“As a new manager you want to win your first couple of games, but looking at the group, they are suffering from this poor run. We need a win any way it comes.”