West Brom 2-0 Brighton: Jonny Evans and Craig Dawson score to secure Alan Pardew first Premier League win
Jonny Evans and Craig Dawson both scored headers to hand Alan Pardew his first Premier League win as West Brom manager in a 2-0 victory against Brighton.
Evans, who has been linked with a move away from the Hawthorns, put the hosts ahead in the fourth minute before Dawson doubled their lead 10 minutes after half-time.
Brighton came closest to pulling a goal back through Anthony Knockaert, who skied his effort over the bar from close-range midway through the second half, but West Brom held on for a comfortable victory.
Three points for Pardew means West Brom are now two points off Premier League safety, while Chris Hughtons Brighton drop down to 15th.
West Brom pressed high early on and the move paid off as the hosts took a fourth-minute lead through their captain Evans.
Matt Phillips drilled corner was instinctively nodded on by Jay Rodriguez before Evans acrobatically nodded the ball home from close range.
The hosts continued to pile on the pressure with Dawson coming close five minutes later from another Phillips corner as Brighton continued to struggle defending set-pieces.
On the half-hour mark, appeals for a West Brom penalty were turned after Phillips rifled shot hit Glenn Murrays arm before Lewis Dunk came close moments later.
His close-range effort was well blocked by Dawson in what was a comfortable first-half performance from Pardews men. Even though Brighton started the second half on the front foot, Dawson doubled West Broms lead.
Chris Brunts driven cross was ferociously attacked by the right-back, who bulleted his header into the ground before the ball bounced into the roof of the net.
Brighton responded by applying some heavy pressure and were helped by the introduction of Sam Baldock off the bench.
He kick-started a chance for Murray before he found Knockaert, but somehow the Frenchman missed the glorious opportunity from five-yards out despite having plenty of space and time.
Evans and Dawson both had to hobble off late on while Salomon Rondon saw two shots from range narrowly miss the goal in added time to conclude a momentous day for Pardew while ending West Broms 20-match winless run in the league.
Alan Pardew picked up his first Premier League win in charge of West Brom, in what was the Baggies first win in the competition by more than one goal since March 2017 (3-1 v Arsenal).
The Seagulls have won just one of their last 12 games in the Premier League (D5 L6), failing to score at all in eight of these fixtures.
Chris Hughton hasnt won any of his five games against Alan Pardew-led sides in the Premier League (D2 L3), managing just one goal across those meetings.
Excluding penalties, Brighton have conceded more goals from set pieces than any other team in the Premier League this season (16). Man of the Match - Craig Dawson.
The 27-year-old performed excellently down the right flank for West Brom as he caused Brightons defence all kinds of problems with his positioning and physicality.
As well as coming close from another corner, he nearly grabbed a goal at the near post up against goalkeeper Mat Ryan.
But he was rewarded for his hard work with a superb second goal as he showed great desire to double West Broms lead. Unfortunately, though, he had to leave the pitch following a head collision with Ahmed Hegazi.
West Brom travel to Merseyside next Saturday to take on Sam Allardyces Everton. Brighton, meanwhile, take on Chelsea on the same day at 11:30am - live on Sky Sports Football.