West Brom 0 Crystal Palace 0 - Report and pictures

There were flashes of promise from the new man's first game in charge, more adventure going forward, and more purpose in attack.

Although Palace had their chances, and Wilfried Zaha looked dangerous, Albion were on top for large parts of their third successive draw in the league.

It was a performance that suggests once he has more time on the training pitch, and more of his creative players available, he will be able to get a tune out of this team.

The Baggies had 20 shots in total, and played on the front foot for most of the afternoon. At times it looked like they lacked a No.10 pulling the strings centrally but there were positives elsewhere on the pitch.

Although the winless streak has now stretched to 14 games in all competitions, it was the first clean sheet Albion in 11 attempts.

It meant Pardew kept his unbeaten record in opening games with Premier League clubs intact, having now won three and drawn two of his first fixtures in new roles.

The 56-year-old made just one change to the Albion team that drew 2-2 with Newcastle on Tuesday, swapping Jay Rodriguez for the injured Matt Phillips.

Teenage midfielder Sam Field kept his place in the line-up ahead of Grzegorz Krychowiak and Hal Robson-Kanu formed a three-man strike force with Salomon Rondon and Rodriguez.

But injuries to his best creative players like Phillips, James Morrison, Nacer Chadli, and Chris Brunt did keep Pardew's hands tied, and it forced him to hand 19-year-old Max Melbourne a place on the bench for the first time.

Albion have an emotional tie to the Melbourne family because Max's older brother Blake passed away from illness in 2011 when he was a 14-year-old right-back in the academy.

Hodgson started all of his big guns, playing Christian Benteke up top with Wilfried Zaha.

But he was forced to make a change before kick-off when goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey was injured in the warm-up and had to be replaced by Julian Speroni.

Pardew promised to start on the front foot, and his 4-3-3 formation ensured Albion did just that.

Just after both men in the dug-out had waved to the Smethwick End, Field tried to divert a deep cross back into the danger zone but it was cleared.

Kieran Gibbs, who passed a late fitness test to start at left-back and looked dangerous throughout, bombed down the wing soon after and pulled the ball back to Robson-Kanu, but it was just behind him and he was unable to keep his shot down.

Rondon tested Speroni from range soon after as Albion's three-pronged attack pushed Palace back into their half.

Zaha was always going to be Palace's danger man and he burst past Allan Nyom before finding the side netting, but it was the Baggies making most of the chances.

Martin Kelly nearly put the ball into his own net from a Robson-Kanu cross before Ahmed Hegazi headed the resulting corner wide when free at the back post.

There was a nervous moment for Ben Foster when he tried to take it around Zaha and slipped, before clawing the ball away in desperation, and not long after the same Palace man knicked the ball from Gareth Barry and had a shot deflected over the crossbar.

And the winger, who said he owed a lot to Pardew before the match, should have had a penalty soon after when he got in behind Albion's back line and his leg was kicked forward by Hegazi.

It had been a breathless end-to-end start to a match at The Hawthorns not seen for some time, and in between Zaha's chances, Rodriguez worked his way into the six yard box from the byline only to see his shot blocked.

The game settled down after that, although Barry had to come off on the half-hour mark with a knock.

He was replaced by Claudio Yacob for his 150th Premier League appearance but the Baggies seemed to lose control after that.

After weathering an early storm, Palace ended the half on top and Christian Benteke – who had been anonymous for 40 minutes – fashioned a chance for himself with a neat turn away from Evans but his shot was well-smothered by Foster.

A minute later the former Villa striker rose highest at a corner but his header was straight at the Albion No.1 and the half finished goalless.

Pardew switched to 4-4-2 at half-time to match Palace, moving Field out to the left wing and bringing Robson-Kanu back down the right flank.

The teenager had a shot blocked at the far stick before a superb clearance from Evans two yards out stopped Zaha's dangerous low cross reaching Benteke.

The game was opening up again, and just before the hour mark Rodriguez had the best chance of the day when he burst through the Palace back line and found himself one-on-one with Speroni.

But the Palace keeper rushed out and made himself big, saving Rodriguez's shot when the £12m man should have done better.

Robson-Kanu also tested Speroni with 20 minutes to go after being slipped in by Field, before Hegazi had to receive treatment after a stray Benteke elbow found his head.

With 10 minutes to go the Egyptian centre-back strode out from the back as The Hawthorns started to roar, but the promising break away was dealt with by a scrambling Palace defence.

And the Baggies ended the game on top. Rondon put a header inches wide of Speroni's post, Field had a shot at the back post well blocked, and then McClean's wild effort nearly cannoned into the net via Rondon's head and Sakho's back.

It wasn't to be the crowning opening Pardew had hoped for but after just two days on the training pitch, it's an encouraging start.

Man of the match

Jonny Evans - Superb at the back and in the right place at the right time on several occasions.

Teams

Albion (4-3-3): Foster; Nyom, Hegazi, Evans (c), Gibbs; Livermore, Barry (Yacob 30), Field; Robson-Kanu (McClean 72), Rondon, Rodriguez (Burke 90). Unused subs: Myhill, McAuley, Melbourne, Krychowiak.

Crystal Palace (4-4-2): Speroni; Ward, Kelly, Sakho (c), Schlupp; Townsend (Sako 87), Loftus-Cheek, Milivojevic, McArthur; Zaha, Benteke. Unused subs: van Aanholt, Fosu-Mensah, Puncheon, Riedewald.

Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland)

Attendance: 23,531 (2,051 away)