At last! Pardew wins at ninth time of asking

IT HAS taken 22 games for West Brom and nine games for Alan Pardew since his appointment in November but, finally, they both have a victory to celebrate.

It may only have been against League Two Exeter City but, given the circumstances, a win is a win.

The near full-strength team Pardew fielded gave the game away. There were to be no chances takes here.

In reality, once Salomon Rondon had opened the scoring after 90 seconds, it seemed clear that the four-month wait might be nearing an end. ‘There wasn’t any whooping or jumping around,’ said Pardew, who saw Jay Rodriguez seal their victory.

‘It was just a professional job. We were expected to win here and we’ve actually won with a really good display.

‘But even if we’d scraped home and Exeter had battered us all day, I wouldn’t have cared. It’s important for our fans. It was nice to see them happy at the end.’

Paul Tisdale’s Exeter only really found their stride in the second half. ‘The goal in first minute changes everything,’ said Tisdale. ‘No matter what you say and how you prepare, that goal does change a lot. We thought we had a chance today.’

That was due to the signs of complacency from West Brom. In the 43rd minute, after those goals from Rondon and Rodriguez, an intriguing passage of play on which the game might have turned saw James McClean win a penalty after he was felled by Pierce Sweeney.

Rondon suggested to nominated taker Rodriguez that he give the chance to substitute Hal RobsonKanu.

It backfired as RobsonKanu then produced the worst penalty imaginable, effectively a pass back to goalkeeper Christy Pym.

And it almost backfired even more spectacularly in terms of the match when, two minutes later, Ben Foster fumbled a cross from Liam McAlinden.

But with an open goal and time to set himself, Jayden Stockley contrived to hit the post, extinguishing hopes of a comeback.