If this match was supposed to be about Crystal Palace gaining revenge against the manager who left them high and dry on the eve of the new season, then, clearly, Tony Pulis had not read the script.
An early header from James Morrison and Craig Gardner’s long-range strike ensured that, for the second successive season, Pulis has pulled off his great escape act as West Bromwich Albion moved eight points clear of the Premier League drop zone. Defeat meant that Palace failed to match last season’s club record of five top-flight wins in a row, but Alan Pardew will take heart from the knowledge that it could easily have been a different story.
“My team tried everything, but it’s difficult when you concede a goal to West Brom, because they make it difficult,” Pardew conceded afterwards.
“We knew that Tony would know the players well, so we tried to throw a few ideas on the pitch. Sometimes they come off and sometimes they don’t.”
The return of Pulis to Selhurst Park for the first time since he walked out on them, 48 hours before the opening match against Arsenal, was always going to divide opinion among Palace supporters. Those of a more forgiving nature were perhaps willing to let bygones be bygones, especially given that the club can now look forward to a third successive season in the Premier League after the mid-season arrival of Pardew.
However, the nature of Pulis’s departure left a bitter taste in the mouths of some fans and there was more than a smattering of boos to greet his arrival on the touchline. Those had largely disappeared by half-time, with the home supporters instead concentrating their ire on referee Jon Moss’s decision-making.
Pardew abandoned his experiment of playing skipper Mile Jedinak in a more advanced role at the break and, instead, threw on Dwight Gayle to partner Glenn Murray. But the plan backfired within eight minutes when Gardner picked up the ball, 30 yards out, after a corner and lashed a shot past the helpless keeper Julián Speroni.
Palace could count themselves unfortunate not to find a way back into the game and, after their recent successes, Pardew acknowledged it was not to be. For his opposite number, however, this was a victory to savour.
From the moment Morrison headed in a corner routine honed on the training ground, Pulis must have sensed it could be his day. The former Stoke manager made a point of embracing every one of Palace’s players at the whistle and left the pitch with his arm around Jason Puncheon, with some fans even waiting behind to applaud him off.
“Obviously it is lovely coming back to a former club. You never know – they did well for me last year and I hope I repaid them a little bit in respect to what we did in the dressing room and on the pitch,” said Pulis.
“It is a good club. It has got unbelievable potential and I mean that. They can push on – if Alan is given the money and the opportunity to push this club forward, this could be a good, good club.”
It’s always easier to be gracious when your team has ended a run of three successive defeats, but Pulis was in no doubt just how important this result was. Concerning home defeats by Leicester and Queens Park Rangers had increased the possibility of West Brom being sucked back into trouble, but they now look to have enough of a cushion, even with matches against Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea to come in their run-in.
“We needed a 90-minute performance and they [the players] were resolute and determined,” Pulis reflected.
“Their concentration levels were good on the basis that we still need the points to stay in the league. I said to them afterwards, give me 40 points - I think it has been a good season for us; that is what we should be aiming for.”
