All square, then, and it’s a fair result although West Brom will be the ones with all the regret. They were pretty comfortably in control after Rodriguez’s goal but then Hegazi, who was very good in all else that he did, made a horrible error and Crouch popped up to equalise. There were flickers at either end after that, particularly from Choupo-Moting for Stoke, but neither side can really complain at the outcome.
Not as bad as all that in the end, eh? You can keep your Chelsea 2-0 Everton, just supposing a game like that had ever existed. And you can now join Daniel Harris for Liverpool v Arsenal via the link below. Enjoy that, and it’s goodbye from me!
90+3 min: McClean now does well on the left and fizzes a difficult ball in for Rondon, who slices it all the way out for a throw-in. This game is now by some distance the best it’s been, but it’s going to be over in a minute.
90+2 min: Sobhi tricks to the byline but Livermore nods his dinked cross away ... only into the path of Fletcher, 25 yards out, who senses a fairytale of his very own but sees a harmless first-time shot blocked.
88 min: Allen is booked now for a foul on Rodriguez. West Brom will take the respite as Stoke have been crisper and more threatening than at any point in the second half since equalising. And now Burke comes on in place of Rodriguez for his debut. Fairytale imminent?
87 min: What a chance for Choupo-Moting! Shaqiri’s cross beats both Nyom and Dawson, who were occupied by Crouch, and the Cameroonian brings the ball down at the far post. He has space to get a shot away, but lashes it wide!
85 min: Zouma goes in search of said winner, letting fly again. It’s a good couple of yards wide but interests Foster enough to provoke a dive, and the away fans “ooooh” in such a way that suggests they didn’t have the angle we did.
83 min: If you want a visual of the equaliser, it reminded me a bit of that famous Koscielny/Szczesny to-do when Arsenal lost to Birmingham in the League Cup final. Stoke have the wind in their sails now and Allen fizzes a cross-shot in from the right that Foster has to repel.
81 min: West Brom will be kicking themselves and Pulis will be fuming. Stoke had offered nothing since going behind and Albion appeared to be getting stronger. One lapse in an otherwise watertight performance, and here we are.
That one came from nowhere too! And ... ohhhhh ... what a mistake by the otherwise immaculate Hegazi! Foster has a relatively simple job of collecting a delivery from the left but Hegazi, for no reason at all, wafts a foot at it and the ball ricochets up away from them both. It leaves Crouch, lurking behind, with the very simplest of headers from three yards. It seems Hegazi didn’t hear Foster’s call – and what an un-West Brom-like error that was.
Crouch heads home the equaliser. Photograph: Tony Marshall/Getty Images
And celebrates. Photograph: Tony Marshall/Getty Images
76 min: Rondon, working hard as ever without posing a direct goal threat, scurries down the channel and wins another corner. Crouch wins two consecutive headers to get it out, but McClean drills it back in from range and it deflects out for yet another flag kick.
74 min: Not quite, but Rodriguez meets it at the far post and, although the header never looks a great threat, it actually bounces out off the top of the bar. That’s the prompt for James McClean to replace Phillips.
73 min: Ooops, Butland has a relatively simple gather as a long pass drifts beyond Phillips but he takes his eye off it and it slips away for a right-sided corner. Will he be made to pay?
70 min: Barry wins the ball from Shaqiri with the cleanest tackle you will ever see. He then plays a loose pass but, no mistake, he has been very good here. His midfield partner, Morrison, is now replaced by Claudio Yacob, while Stoke bring on the attack-minded Sobhi for Cameron.
66 min: Could have been two – should have been two? Hegazi meets a free-kick six yards out, gets it on target ... but Butland flips it over sharply! Another corner.
66 min: “This game isn’t boring! It’s one for the purists. Why are we so reliant on goals as a form of stimulation? What about a nice firm pass? Or a well taken throw-in?” quips Dan Osborn. Who was it that said goals are overrated?
64 min: It’s going to be a difficult half hour for Stoke now. They’ve dominated the ball here but chances have been few and far between as it is. Crouch might be a necessary means of mixing things up.
62 min: Didn’t see that coming, did we? West Brom are just so good at finding a way, even if there are elements of their game that you wouldn’t watch if it was on in your back garden. Peter Crouch immediately comes on for the very quiet Jese.
From nothing! It’s great work from the excellent Nyom, who sprints beyond the puffing Shaqiri on the right and whips in a fine cross that goes beyond Rondon and bounces up for Rodriguez, anticipating perfectly, to thud a header beyond Butland!
Rodriguez scores the opener. Photograph: Matthew Ashton - AMA/WBA via Getty Images
And celebrates. Photograph: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/WBA via Getty Images
59 min: Sky have just apologised for technical issues preventing them showing replays but, honestly, there has been nothing in this second half to replay.
57 min: And because the floodgates are opening in my mailbox, if nowhere else, this from Adam Timmins:
“You gotta love the fact that the reason Stoke got rid of Pulis was because they ‘wanted to move up to the next level’, and since then have done - to quote Tommy Lee Jones in Men in Black - ‘precisely, d**k’.”
56 min: Charles Antaki wonders something that I, too, sometimes wonder: “Strip determinism - I wonder if the dullness of the game is caused in any sort of magical-thinking way by the simple dullness of these two sides’ strips? Red stripe on white. Dark blue strip on white. Yes, I know that they’re historical and authentic. But this are also usually the cheapest kits you can buy when trying to equip a park team on a no-budget basis. Perhaps it’s playing on the teams’ minds.”
55 min: Laurence from Winchester has bad news for us – “JR has offered to be the hex but ‘ain’t no way there are going to be goals scored’ is in fact a double negative So JR is about as committed to his statement as these teams are to actually scoring in this game.”
52 min: Rodriguez is booked for a take-it-for-the-team foul on Pieters, who was charging towards the West Brom area. The free kick comes to nothing, so job done.
Rodriguez takes out Pieters. Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Action Images via Reuters
49 min: Rodriguez gets into more space down the left but runs into trouble as he nears the box. Fletcher has tracked him and comes away from the ball. West Brom look a bit brighter on the ball in these early stages, with a few more runners. Now they win a corner kick via Brunt ...
Still here? The second half is coming up. Echoing the earlier point by JR, I wonder if Oliver Burke will come on later for WBA. Fine talent and a shame it didn’t work out in Leipzig. One of his problems there was his “defensive hard drive” – but presumably it’s been loaded up enough to satisfy Pulis.
JR lends us a hand: “This one’s going to end 0-0 isn’t it? You can admit it. Maybe this game needs for someone to confidently say ‘This game will end goalless’ in order to hex themselves and then look foolish when they are proven wrong. I’ll be glad to volunteer. But seriously, ain’t no way there are going to be any goals scored in this game.”
Happy to leave the hexing to someone else after writing this on Friday. Ipswich went on to lose.
Pretty much to the letter of what you’d expected, really. West Brom not threatening much beyond set pieces, Stoke having more of the ball but finding it tough to break them down. Zouma’s deflected shot, very well saved by Foster, is as close as we’ve come. Surely there’ll be a clear chance or two after the break. If that doesn’t persuade you to stick with us, nothing will!
44 min: Livermore tries to slide Rodriguez down the line but it’s just too far in front of him. West Brom’s threat has increased although that is not saying much at all.
43 min: It’s cleared though, and now Choupo-Moting can break. He finds Shaqiri, who quickly spots Jese’s run, but he’s crowded out and skews the ball behind under pressure from – again – Nyom.
41 min: West Brom appeal for handball when a Jese shot pings up off Brunt but it never really looked on. Phillips then finds some rare space at the other end but nobody attacks the cross ... and then he runs onto a Brunt delivery at the far post, drills it across and Shawcross has to thump the ball behind for a corner. Better.
39 min: Rodriguez causes brief interest with a nice ball from the left but Shawcross clears; then Nyom spoons a cross up for Butland to claim. West Brom looking a bit livelier now but they have done nothing with the ball in open play.
38 min: Same again, almost – Brunt aims for Dawson round the back stick and Butland is up but can’t claim properly. This time, though, it is deemed that he was fouled.
37 min: Dawson wins a corner on the right after Stoke can’t clear a free kick. West Brom haven’t done a lot going forwards since the first few minutes so this is a welcome chance. Brunt again goes fairly deep and Butland can only get a finger to it on the stretch, but Cameron is on hand to help it away from any interested parties. And now Rondon wins a free kick near to the same corner flag ...
34 min: Superb play from Fletcher sends Jese scampering away down the left but Nyom marshals him really well, holds him up and eventually confuses him into running the ball out of play.
33 min: Nyom is heavily involved again, and audibly yelps as Pieters scythes him down after being beaten to the ball. Yellow card for the Stoke man. No real complaints either.
31 min: Nyom fouls Jese with an outstretched arm across the face, causing a pretty dramatic reaction, which itself prompts anger from the Cameroon international. All are now up and about again.
