West Brom 1 - Stoke 0: Brown Ideye seals narrow win over Potters

Well, he was the one who built the Potters into a rock-solid Premier League outfit. 

And yesterday Pulis, the still relatively new Hawthorns boss, did not fail to deliver as Brown Ideye’s fifth goal in eight games secured Albion’s first top-flight win here over Stoke since November 1984.

This victory, his seventh since taking the Baggies’ reins at the start of the year, means Albion now have 33 points and, barring utter meltdown, are safe from the drop.

That, of course, is what really matters for their Welsh coach. Yet, make no mistake, Pulis will love the fact he has turned over his old club in the process. 

Sacked by them 18 months ago, he has seen successor Mark Hughes guide the Potters to unprecedented heights – and earn rave reviews for their purist style.

Yet with eight of the visitors’ starting-line-up being Pulis’ former players, few could dispute his influence at the Britannia Stadium remains. Some were even calling this all-Midlands contest the Pulis derby.

Stoke’s fine run of late had taken them to eighth in the table before kick off. 

And they were boosted here by the return of skipper Ryan Shawcross.

Yet Albion had some good fitness news of their own as the prolific strikeforce of Saido Berahino and Ideye were cleared for action.

Berahino, hoping for another England call-up this week, was the first to show up in the club’s third derby in 12 days.

Potters keeper Asmir Begovic was twice called into action inside seven minutes to keep out Berahino piledrivers. 

But he was powerless to stop Ideye heading home in the 19th minute from Craig Gardner’s beautiful cross.

Stoke defender Phil Bardsley should have done better, though, as he allowed the Nigerian ace to give him the slip in the six-yard box. 

The Baggies might have been out of sight by half-time but Darren Fletcher skied a volley over and Berahino slammed wide from an acute angle when squaring to Craig Dawson was the better option.

Then Ideye thought he had doubled the lead in the 35th minute as he rolled the ball into an empty net – only for an offside flag to rightly rule it out.

If the hosts were good value for the advantage, Sparky’s boys had been downright disappointing. 

Pulis no doubt feared his old charges would be a different proposition after the break.

However, despite a brief flurry early on, they were not much better. 

Not even the loss of England keeper Ben Foster to injury posed much of a problem for the Albion defence as they kept their seventh clean sheet under Pulis.

Indeed, it was at the other end where the best action again took place.