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West Brom's Pulis enjoys happy return to the Palace

LONDON (Reuters) - West Bromwich Albion manager Tony Pulis enjoyed a happy return to former club Crystal Palace as his side claimed a 2-0 victory at Selhurst Park to ease their Premier League relegation fears. The 57-year-old Pulis, who guided Palace away from the relegation zone last season and to an 11th-placed finish, quit two days before the start of the campaign after reports of a falling out with chairman Steve Parish. "It is lovely coming back to a former club," Pulis told reporters. "The fans did well for me last year and I hope I repaid them a little bit in respect to what we did in the dressing-room and on the pitch. "It is a good club. It has got unbelievable potential and I mean that. The supporters are wonderful and they have a good manager. "They can push on -- if Alan (Pardew) is given the money and the opportunity to push this club forward this club could be a good, good club." Pulis's return to Selhurst Park got off to the perfect start as James Morrison headed West Brom in front after two minutes before Craig Gardner's long-range strike in the second half sealed the points. "We worked on a couple of things in respect to what I thought Palace would do," Pulis said. "We scored from a corner that we have worked on, which was really pleasing. Then Gardner's strike to make it 2-0 was crucial really in lots of respects. "I thought we were resilient and defended well and in the end I thought we deserved the points." Victory against Palace ended West Brom's three-match losing streak and looks to have confirmed their Premier League status for another season as they have 36 points from 33 games. Despite boasting an eight-point advantage over 18th-placed Leicester City, Pulis is targeting four more points just to make sure of survival. "The concentration levels were good on the basis that we still need the points to stay in the league," he said. "I said to them afterwards, give me 40 points -- I think it has been a good season for us that is what we should be aiming for." (Reporting by Michael Hann, editing by Ed Osmond)