It has taken 22 games for West Bromwich Albion and nine games for Alan Pardew since his appointment in November but, finally, they both have a victory to celebrate. It was balmy summer evening when they last experienced this feeling, in late August at Accrington Stanley. Now, in a bleak and frozen midwinter in Devon, they have at last managed to repeat the trick and thereby progress to the fourth round of the FA Cup It may only have been against League Two Exeter City, when it is the Premier League where they really need to establish this winning habit. But given the circumstances, a win is a win: anything else would have been another crushing blow to beleaguered confidence. The near full-strength team Pardew fielded gave the game away. There were to be no chances takes here.