West Brom 1 Stoke City 1 - Report and pictures
After Jay Rodriguez sparked a dreadful game into life on the hour mark with his first home goal, the Baggies looked destined to make it three 1-0 wins from three in the Premier League.
But a terrible mix-up at the back involving Ahmed Hegazi and Ben Foster gifted Peter Crouch an equaliser 13 minutes from time.
In truth, a draw was probably a fair result in a poor game that failed to get going for the first 60 minutes.
Stoke had two penalty shouts against Chris Brunt correctly turned down in a first half they shaded.
But the Baggies were the better team for the majortiy of the second half thanks, mostly, to the composure of veteran midfielder Gareth Barry on his home debut.
Salomon Rondon was rewarded for his goal against Accrington Stanley in mid-week with his first Premier League start of the season, as Pulis pushed Jay Rodriguez out to the wing.
James Morrison was also given his first start of the season after impressing in the Carabao Cup, and the midfielder had an early chance to give Albion the lead, when Chris Brunt's corner found him at the back post.
But Morrison wasn't expecting the ball to come to him and his header into the ground bounced wide of Jack Butland's post.
Stoke only had 22.7 per cent possession against Arsenal last week, but the Baggies were happy to let them have the ball early on, and confident in their set-up, encouraged the visitors onto them.
The Potters wanted a penalty soon after when Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting burst into the box and tripped over Chris Brunt's leg, but the summer signing went looking for the touch and Albion's left-back didn't move a muscle, leading referee Anthony Taylor to correctly wave play on.
Two minutes later, Ryan Shawcross, who was at the centre of the fall-out between the two managers earlier this year, stabbed the ball inches wide of Foster's post after a corner fall to him in the box.
But after a frenetic opening 10 minutes, the action settled down. Both teams were struggling to get in behind, and the biggest chance game mid-way through the first half when Kurt Zouma's deflected shot nearly looped in, but Foster readjusted quickly and acrobatically tipped it over the bar.
The chants coming from both sets of supporters were more cutting than the attacks, as Xherdan Shaqiri and James Morrison both started to come deeper and deeper to get possession.
Set pieces and counter attacks looked like being both team's only hopes for a goal, and there was one nervy moment for Albion when Darren Fletcher's cross-field pass left Albion briefly overloaded with a five on three scenario.
But Allan Nyom, who had just been crunched by Erik Pieters, shepherded the dangerous Jese out of play superbly with the help of Morrison.
Hearts were in mouths one more time just before half-time when the ball ricocheted into Brunt's body and cannoned into his arm too, but the deflection was from five yards away and Anthony Taylor ignored the appeals, most of which came from the away fans, rather than the players.
The second half started in a similarly pedestrian vein to the first, but the game sparked into life on the hour mark.
When Nyom saw some space down the right, he burst into it, leaving Jese for dead, and whipped in a cross into the danger zone.
Rodriguez had struggled to get into the game on the left hand side, but his predatory instincts got the better of Geoff Cameron and Zouma, who he sliced through before heading a bullet past Butland.
It was his first Premier League goal for the club, and his first at The Hawthorns, but it came after his mid-week strike against Accrington Stanley, suggesting he can add the threat from open play.
Hughes dragged Jese off straight after, acknowledging that the former Real Madrid winger had failed to get the best of Nyom all afternoon.
Ramadan Sobhi soon followed Peter Crouch onto the pitch as Hughes tried to rescue something from the game, while Pulis shored things up by swapping Claudio Yacob for Morrison.
James McClean followed, but it was the home side who looked more likely to score until the equaliser, which was put on a plate for Crouch..
The cross should have been easily dealt with but Hegazi - who had played well up until then - swung a boot at it when Foster had already come.
His mis-timed clearance bounced past the keeper and into the path of Crouch, who had a simple task of heading the ball into an empty net.
After that, the visitors flooded forward in search of a winner, with Choupo-Moting going close at the back post.
Oliver Burke was handed his Albion debut three minutes from time, but the best chance of injury time fell to Rondon, who couldn't divert McClean's cross on target.
The draw means Pulis remains unbeaten in his seven games against Stoke since leaving the Potters.
He's won four of those fixtures 1-0, and he tonight, he may think that it should have been five. But seven points from the first possible nine is still a healthy return.
Key moments
61 ALBION GOAL - Alln Nyom bursts down the right hand side and puts the ball into a dangerous corridor. Rodriguez follows it up at the back post and heads it in.
77 STOKE GOAL - Ahmed Hegazi mis-times a clearance when Ben Foster is coming to claim the ball and the mix-up puts the ball on a plate for Peter Crouch, who heads into the empty net.
Man of the match
Gareth Barry
Superb in central midfield, both on and off the ball.
Teams
Albion (4-1-4-1): Foster, Nyom, Dawson, Hegazi, Brunt, Barry, Phillips (McClean 74), Livermore (c), Morrison (Yacob 70), Rodriguez (Burke 88), Rondon. Unused subs: Myhill, Wilson, Field, Chadli.
Stoke City (3-4-3) Butland; Zouma, Shawcross (c), Martins Indi; Cameron (Sobhi 69), Fletcher, Allen, Pieters; Jese (Crouch 62), Shaqiri; Choupo-Moting. Unused subs: Grant, Johnson, Berahino, Adam, Bojan.
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Attendance: 22,704 (2,344 away)
