Exeter City 0-2 West Bromwich Albion
- Published
FA Cup: Exeter 0-2 West Brom highlights
Alan Pardew finally got his first win as West Brom boss as his side eased past League Two Exeter City in the FA Cup third round.
Saloman Rondon fired the Baggies ahead after less than 75 seconds before Jay Rodriguez doubled the lead, pouncing on a defensive error.
Hal Robson-Kanu had a third disallowed and missed a penalty.
And Ahmed Hegazi also had a goal chalked off in the second half as the Baggies moved into round four.
Baggies blow away luckless City
Making just four changes from the side that lost at West Ham in their last Premier League game, Pardew was keen to end a 21-game winless run for the top flight's second-bottom side at a League Two club with promotion aspirations of their own.
The first goal - the quickest in any match this season - came after Dan Seaborne failed to properly clear James McLean's cross and Rondon ruthlessly dispatched it past the impressive Christy Pym in the City goal.
After saving from Chris Brunt, Pym could do nothing for the second following another mistake from Seaborne.
Exeter's former England Under-20 keeper then saved brilliantly at close range from James McLean after early substitute Robson-Kanu's ball in, and saved the Welsh international's poor penalty after McClean was fouled by Pierce Sweeney.
City top scorer Jayden Stockley should have pulled a goal back in first half stoppage time, but the former Aberdeen forward unbelievably managed to hit the post from less than two yards out after Ben Foster fumbled a cross.
137 day wait is over - but only 363 Baggies fans see it
With two sides of Exeter's St James Park being redeveloped, the FA gave special dispensation for City to give West Brom just a few hundred tickets of the 5,638 sell-out.
The last time Baggies fans saw their side triumph was on 22 August when they won at Exeter's League Two rivals Accrington Stanley in the Carabao Cup.
And they were cheering five minutes after the restart when Hegazi thought he had scored the third as he reacted quickest to Pym's save from a Rondon header, but the Venezuela striker was flagged offside for his initial effort.
That prompted City's best spell of the game as Seaborne almost got on the end of a Stockley flick-on and substitute Lee Holmes had a near-post shot blocked by Ben Foster.
But the Grecians could not create another clear-cut chance despite having the upper hand for large parts of the second period.
As the Baggies saw out the game Jake Livermore was introduced as a late substitute, having been rested after his altercation with a fan at West Ham, while Jonny Evans was left out of the squad entirely as speculation mounts over a potential move away from the Hawthorns before the end of the January transfer window.
'A professional job' - what the managers said
Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale: "We didn't have a look in for that first 40 minutes and I was disappointed in the way we competed in that 40 minutes, despite all the preparation and intent that we hoped for.
"Even at 2-0 you score one goal and you know one can become two, and the way we played in that second half, all it needed was a goal.
"I think Jayden was a bit surprised at how the ball landed to him, and he somehow contrived to miss it, but I think we did very well second half."
West Brom boss Alan Pardew: "There wasn't any whooping or jumping around, it was just a professional job.
"We were expected to win here and the most important thing was that we did win, it didn't matter what manner.
"We won with a really good display, but even if we had scraped home and Exeter had battered us I wouldn't have cared, as long as we won."