Saido Berahino scored the only goal of the game
as West Brom beat Hull City 1-0 in Tony Pulis'
first Premier League game in charge at The
Hawthorns.
The future of in-form striker Berahino has been
the subject of much speculation and Albion's
leading scorer capped another lively display by
firing home a deflected free-kick from inside the
penalty area 13 minutes from time after Allan
McGregor had picked up Ahmed Elmohamady's
back-pass.
Berahino, who has been linked with the likes of
Tottenham and Liverpool, scored four times in a
7-0 rout of Gateshead in the FA Cup third round
last weekend and he was the stand-out player
once again at The Hawthorns on Saturday.
Pulis has now won both games since replacing
Alan Irvine at the helm, but Albion were anything
but convincing in what was only their third home
victory of the season in the top flight.
Victory for the Midlands club moved them above
Hull into 14th in the table and was only their
second Premier League success in their last 11
games.
Hull offered very little going forward and the loss
of Nikica Jelavic and Abel Hernandez to injury in
the first half will no doubt hasten Steve Bruce's
attempts to bring in at least one striker, with
Jermain Defoe and Yaya Sanogo mooted as
targets.
Pulis handed midfielder Claudio Yacob only his
second Premier League start of the season, while
record signing Brown Ideye was preferred to
Victor Anichebe in attack.
Jelavic recovered from illness to take his place in
a Hull side that showed eight changes from the
team which lost in the FA Cup at Arsenal last
weekend.
After an uneventful start to the game it was
Berahino who had the first opportunity when he
played a one-two with Stephane Sessegnon
before firing wide of the far post after 18 minutes.
Both sides looked devoid of ideas going forward
in a drab first half, but Berahino remained lively
and forced a save out of McGregor with a strike
from 20 yards out after taking a pass from Chris
Brunt.
Hull suffered a double blow when they lost Jelavic
and Hernandez to injury before half-time, with
Robbie Brady and Tom Ince replacing the strike
duo.
Brady wasted no time in making an impact as he
unleashed a left-foot strike from a tight angle
which Ben Foster tipped over the crossbar.
Ideye then had the best chance of the game 42
minutes in, when Berahino's perfectly weighted
first time pass sent the Nigeria striker clear but
he failed to hit the target with a tame finish.
The dangerous Berahino caused the Hull defence
more problems early in the second half when he
flashed the ball across the face of the goal but
there was nobody on hand to apply the finish.
Pulis was typically animated on the touchline as
the home side continued to look short of ideas
and Albion's fans grew increasingly frustrated.
Anichebe replaced the ineffective Ideye with 17
minutes remaining and moments later there was a
nervous moment for a poor defensive header
gifted Elmohamady with a chance to open the
scoring, but his shot was blocked.
The Egyptian was in the thick of the action again
as his needless back-pass was picked up by
McGregor and Berahino rifled home a free-kick
from around 10 yards which nicked off Jake
Livermore on its way in to give Albion three
precious points and take his impressive tally for
the season to 14 goals.
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