It was a professional job, says Pardew after first win
A win at last for Alan Pardew and his West Brom strugglers, but it could and should have been by a bigger margin.
Not that Pardew, who had not picked up a victory in his first eight games in charge of the Premier League side, was in any mood to complain after seeing West Brom record their first win since Aug 22. “There wasn’t any whooping or jumping around in the dressing room afterwards. We were expected to win and it was just a professional job,” said Pardew.
“The most important thing was that we won, and it didn’t matter in which manner. Even if we had scraped home and Exeter had battered us I wouldn’t have cared, just as long as we won. It was important for our fans. We’ve been playing some decent stuff without giving them a win, so it was nice to see them happy at the end.”
Pardew left Jonny Evans out of the side supposedly with injury but reports emerged last night that Arsenal had revived their interest in the Northern Irish centre-half.
Having seen his side coast into a 2-0 interval lead Pardew might reasonably have expected them to motor on in the second half against League Two opposition, but it never happened. Nevertheless, it was a win after four defeats and four draws in the Premier League. Exeter were as brave in the second half as they were timid in the first. There was simply no bite to their firsthalf effort, when they were guilty of allowing West Brom to dictate at will. That included one of the quickest goals of the season from Salomon Rondon, who hit the top corner from the edge of the area with the clock showing a mere 70 seconds. Rondon had a second goal ruled out for offside in the 26th minute, as did Ahmed Hegazi in the second half. Hal Robson-Kanu, who replaced the injured Kieran Gibbs in the 10th minute, then missed with one of the tamest penalties you will ever see, just before the break. By then, though, the Baggies had doubled their advantage with a Jay Rodriguez goal from a Robson-Kanu cross from the right. Exeter’s best moment came in the last move of the first-half, when Jayden Stockley was presented with an open goal after Ben Foster fumbled a cross at his near post, but hit the post.