Late Rondon rescue mission helps Pulis enjoy 1,000th match
ONLY a fortnight ago, it could be presumed that an email from the League Managers’ Association titled ‘Tony Pulis statement’ meant bad news for the West Brom manager.
In the midst of a takeover and indifferent results, his position was severely under threat — so much so that Pulis himself did not know what the future held.
He still doesn’t, although this return to Stoke might have been worse but for Salomon Rondon’s last-gasp equaliser.
As it was, that LMA note on Thursday morning was one of celebration as he joined what Sir Alex Ferguson called a ‘Band of Brothers’. The stalwarts who just keep on going.
Yesterday marked 1,000 matches in management for the 58-year-old, whose day in the limelight was spent at old employers synonymous with his career.
‘You couldn’t have picked a better place for me to reach it,’ Pulis smiled. ‘The place is wonderful and the crowd were fantastic to me when I was here.
‘This football club’s been stitched into my body. It’s always a result I look for. I’ll always have respect for the wonderful people here.’
Fitting, you might say, that Pulis removed his helmet and raised his bat on a ground his old Stoke side so often unnerved the Premier League’s elite with spitting bouncers.
Fitting also that West Brom were undone with 17 minutes remaining in the scrappiest of fashion.
Possession goes wide, the cross comes in, the onrushing midfielder picks up the second ball. All the hallmarks of Pulis’s Stoke in their pomp.
Xherdan Shaqiri was the architect, whipping in a cross from the right. Marko Arnautovic’s presence was enough to unsettle the away defence and the loose ball fell to Joe Allen — pushed further forward today — who calmly slotted in his first goal since his £13million move from Liverpool.
Mark Hughes spun on his heels and allowed himself a mighty roar of relief after a wretched run of results saw them bottom of the division. Almost a sell-out, the Bet365 Stadium rocked as it had done under Pulis when they upset the big boys in the good old days. The mood from the visitors was very different. ‘Attack, attack,’ screamed the away fans — detractors who claim West Brom are too passive under Pulis’s stewardship.
They manufactured a stoppage-time equaliser, Jonathan Leko’s corner brilliantly headed into the far corner of Lee Grant’s net at the near post by Rondon. ‘Wonderful,’ Pulis said — again.
Hughes bore the look of a man who had just tasted another bitter defeat, even if they did not indulge their recent habit of conceding four goals a game.
‘I felt we’d done more than enough to merit the three points but that’s sport,’ he said ‘You can do the right things for the most part and still lose. And that’s how we felt, we have to remind ourselves it was a well-earned draw.’
It might have been more if two penalty calls went their way. Both involved Matt Phillips and Stoke left-back Eric Pieters. Twice the winger’s legs became entangled with Pieters, twice Pieters fell, twice Martin Atkinson said no. Phillips’s arms were raised apologetically as the second collision occurred.
There is a long-running disdain for Atkinson here. He has history of sending Stoke players off, one so long that the local newspaper ran a story detailing the referee’s ‘top five worst performances’.
Hughes stopped short of blaming Atkinson: ‘The first was a close call and clearly we’re not getting the luck. The second I’ve not seen but I thought he was clear so the question is, “Why would he go down unless he was impended?”’
Stoke had the best chance, which fell to Glen Johnson storming up from right-back. Wilfried Bony’s knockdown found its way to Johnson who lobbed Ben Foster, only for Craig Dawson’s heroic clearance off the line to save a certain goal.
They would rue that later, Rondon’s goal ensuring Pulis has still not lost against Stoke since leaving here three years ago.
Plans to celebrate then, Tony? ‘Someone said I can sit in with [wife] Deb but she’ll be watching Strictly
Come Dancing. I won’t be sitting in there!’ And with that he was off, No 1001 at Sunderland next Saturday.