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Stoke City 0 West Brom 1 - Report and pictures

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Salomon Rondon's goal earned Albion a first Premier League win of the season against nine man Stoke.more

The hosts played almost an hour two men down after both Ibrahim Afellay and Charlie Adam saw red in the space of six first half minutes.

Rondon put the Baggies ahead with his first goal for the club on the stroke of half-time.

The £12million striker then headed just over in a second half largely controlled by the visitors.

It meant a winning return for Baggies head coach and former Stoke boss Tony Pulis in his first game back at the Britannia Stadium.

But his side were given a huge helping hand by his old club as both Afellay and Adam were sent off for off the ball incidents.

Afellay was shown a straight red for lashing out at Craig Gardner, while Adam soon followed after appearing to stamp on Craig Dawson.

Albion were relatively comfortable after Rondon had put them ahead and though it was a far from vintage performance, they showed strong composure to see the game out.

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Pulis made two changes from the team which lost 3-2 to Chelsea last time out in the league, with both Chris Brunt and Callum McManaman failing to recover in time from minor knocks, though the latter was fit enough to take a place on the bench.

With Ashley Chester ruled out with a minor hamstring injury, the Baggies head coach handed Joleon Lescott his first start since the opening weekend defeat to Manchester City at left-back.

Gardner also returned to the starting line-up in place of McManaman.

0It was the hosts who made a brighter start and Dawson had to be alert to clear in front of Mame Diouf after the striker had gotten on the end of a Glenn Whelan long ball.

Salomon Rondon of West Bromwich Albion celebrates with Joleon Lescott of West Bromwich Albion after scoring a goal to make it 0-1

Stoke (4-2-3-1): Butland, Johnson (Wilson 63), Cameron, Muniesa, Pieters, Whelan ©, Van Ginkel, Shaqiri (Arnautovic 68), Adam, Afellay, Diouf (Ireland 81) Subs not used: Joselu, Crouch, Bojan, Given (gk).

Albion (4-5-1): Myhill, Dawson, McAuley, Olsson, Lescott, Gardner (McManaman HT), Fletcher (c), Yacob (Lambert 35), Morrison, McClean (Gamboa 63), Rondon Subs not used: Gnabry, Ideye, Anichebe, Rose (gk). [/breakout]

From the resulting corner, Xherdan Shaqiri curled a shot wide from a tight angle. Adam also fired over in the early stages.

Diouf might have done better with a header from Adam's cross which he sent straight at Boaz Myhill but the hosts held the upper hand until both Afellay and Adam saw red in a crazy six minute period.

The first sending off came seconds after James Morrison had come close to an opener with Albion's first shot on goal. A James McClean cross was only cleared as far as the Scotland international, who drove in a low shot which home keeper Jack Butland did well to keep out, diving to his right.

As Stoke looked to break, Gardner pulled Afellay back and after a brief exchange between the players, the Dutchman raised his hands toward the Baggies midfielder. Referee Michael Oliver, after booking Gardner for the original foul, showed the Stoke man a straight red.

With the home crowd incensed, Diouf came close to giving their team the lead when he nipped in between McAuley and Myhill. His lob beat the keeper but McAuley, with a great covering header, was able to stop the ball crossing the line.

Moments later, Stoke's situation got worse as Adam was giving his marching orders. After challenging Dawson the right wing, he appeared to stamp on the Albion full-back and after consulting his assistant - who flagged for the foul - Mr Oliver once again produced the red card.

With his team now facing nine men, Pulis opted to introduce Rickie Lambert in place of Claudio Yacob and the former Liverpool man was quickly into the action, forcing Butland to tip over a rasping 25-yard drive.

Three minutes into added time, with the hosts looking likely to escape the half level, he then crossed for Rondon to nod the visitors ahead and further increase the frustrations of the home crowd.

The Venezuelan almost had a second in the opening minutes of the second period but sent his header from a Morrison cross just over.

Glenn Johnson dragged a shot wide ade Shaqiri fired over as Stoke looked for a way back.

But they were almost hit by another sucker punch when Albion skipper Darren Fletcher saw a shot hit a defender's leg a wrong-footed Butland could only watch as it dribbled a foot wide.

The lead remained at one however and a couple of corners in succession, coupled with an Eric Pieters shot straight into the arms of Myhill, was a reminder the hosts were far from out fo the game.

McManaman, on as a substitute, almost sealed it with a curling shot which sailed just wide of the far post.