Alan Pardew reckons Crystal Palace, despite their best efforts, just lacked the key to unlock the West Brom defence in Saturday's 2-0 defeat.

However, he would not berate his stars after the reverse to former manager Tony Pulis’ Baggies at Selhurst Park ended the Eagles’ Premier League run of four consecutive victories.

A free header from James Morrison in the second minute and a superb 25-yard strike from Craig Gardner in the second half were enough to seal the three points for the Midlands team, who are still not safe from relegation from the top-flight.

Pardew said: “The players tried everything to try and find a way through.

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“We had moments and margins. We played with passion and controlled the game, but we couldn’t find the way through. We tried everything today and couldn’t unlock them.”

He added: “We should have had a penalty in the first half [at 1-0 down], but they got a great second goal which was key for them - they had a cushion, had that confidence and played better with that.”

Much talk before the game was about Pulis returning to the club which he quit on the eve of the season, but the home fans warmly welcomed him back to SE25, which the former manager later described as “lovely” and the Palace fans as “first class”.

“People knew Tony did a nice job here,” said Pardew.

“He plays the game his way and we respect that, and our fans are terrific in the understanding of what Tony did and they respect that. “ But it was that inside knowledge which proved to be the catalyst for the win as Pulis exploited his former side at an early set-piece – with Jason Puncheon failing to pick up Morrison.

Pardew, wary of this inside knowledge, made some positional and tactical changes, including putting Joe Ledley at left-back instead of midfield in the hope of causing Pulis issues, but it was ultimately to no avail.

“We knew that Tony would know the players well, their strengths and weaknesses,” said Pardew.

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“We tried to throw a few ideas on the pitch - sometimes they come off and sometimes they don’t, but it’s difficult against West Brom when they pack the area and defence.

“Tony exploited a weakness in our set-up [for the first goal] and it’s a feather in the cap for them.

“He knew that Jason Puncheon was not comfortable marking there and it is something we will look into.

“For West Brom it’s a good day, but we won’t go away from what we do, we will continue to try and pass it - on another day we get a goal but not today.”

Despite the result, Palace remain 11th in the Premier League going into their next fixture against Hull City at Selhurst Park this weekend, and Pardew was not worried about the result today affecting the rest of the season.

“It’s very difficult to win five games in a row and today we came up short,” he said.

“The reality is as much as we were focused and worked hard enough we just couldn’t find that moment or goal which we did for previous games - the margins are very slim in this league.”

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