West Brom V Crystal Palace at The Hawthorns: LIVE

27 February 2016 16:56
West Brom V Crystal Palace - view commentary, squad, and statistics of the game live.

Tony Pulis urges West Brom to move on from coin-throwing incident

West Brom boss Tony Pulis insists the club have to move on after Chris Brunt was hit by a coin.

The Northern Ireland midfielder was struck by a missile thrown from the away fans following their 3-1 FA Cup defeat at Reading last week.

Police have made an arrest and are treating the incident as assault while the Football Association is also investigating.

Albion are prepared to ban anyone found guilty for life and ahead of Saturday's visit of Crystal Palace Pulis now wants to look to the future.

"It's happened, you have to deal with it and move on, we have to move on," he said.

"Everyone at the football club and in football was disappointed with it. The whole incident was disgraceful and we don't want to see things like that in our sport.

"People get disappointed when you lose, I accept that, but to do something like that to someone who has played over 300 games is unacceptable. We just have to let the police get on with it.

"Speaking to Albion supporters what really disappoints them is that the club has been shown up for something it isn't.

"Traditionally it's a very honourable club who stick behind their players, team and their club."

Albion are 14th in the Barclays Premier League table but have won just twice in their last 11 games ahead of the visit of Palace, who Pulis left in August 2014.

Fans have started to turn on the head coach after a series of disappointing displays but Pulis accepts the criticism.

"We are no different to any other club. We played at Goodison the other week (a 1-0 win against Everton) and got absolutely pelted when we won the game," he said.

"They pay good money for it. As a manager that is acceptable, to take criticism. If we didn't like it we wouldn't be in it."

Pulis hopes Jonny Evans will be fit following a hamstring injury while Gareth McAuley (hamstring) and Craig Dawson (ankle) have returned to training.

Meanwhile, Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew is fully focused on the Premier League, despite their looming FA Cup quarter-final with Reading.

The Eagles travel to West Brom looking to put a run of bad league form behind them. Palace have not won a game in the top-flight since December 19, despite beating three Premier League sides in the FA Cup, and Pardew knows they need to stop the rot.

He said: "It has been a strange run because we have obviously beaten three Premier League teams in the cup, so we are still proving that we are a good side, but the league form is a worry and we need to put that right.

"One win will settle everybody down and that is really all we need.

"You cannot disguise that there is a little bit of a buzz about the FA Cup, we are in the quarter-finals and we have to use that as a platform to go and win our games in the league.

"We know that our results have been disappointing recently and there is no doubt about that, we need to put it right.

"That is our focus for the next 10 days - these three league games. It is important for the fans that we get a win or two in there."

Palace follow the Baggies clash with games against Sunderland and Liverpool before a trip to Reading on March 12.

Pardew was pleased with his side's performance in the cup win over Tottenham last weekend which she revealed has boosted morale in the camp, but expressed his disappointment his side were not praised for their performance.

"To win at Spurs, they beat Fiorentina (3-0 in the Europa League on Thursday) without Harry Kane and without (Moussa) Dembele and we went there and won 1-0," said Pardew.

"It was a fantastic performance, but we didn't get a lot of credit for it. In fact we got some criticism for our defensive display which I was amazed by."

West Brom have the same points total as Palace and Saturday's meeting with see a reunion with Baggies boss Tony Pulis, the Eagles' former manager.

Pardew said: "Both teams will be a little bit edgy because we both want to win this game, so it might be a little bit tense at times, but they have good players and they will make it very difficult.

"It is a game that is pivotal to a degree, especially with our cup run.

"Tony knows our players well and will know some of the characteristics which may give him a slight advantage."

Bakary Sako is close to returning to the side following problems with his hamstring but Pardew is undecided as to whether to include him on Saturday.

Source: PAR