Tony Pulis plays down row with West Brom fan

The Baggies head coach was spotted having words with a supporter in the Halfords Lane Stand as the teams left the field at half-time at The Hawthorns.

Pulis, whose Albion side went on to suffer a fourth straight defeat, later shrugged off the incident, explaining how he had come to the defence of assistant boss Dave Kemp.

“He (the fan) had a go at Kempy and I just turned around and supported Kempy,” he said. “I responded for him.

“The fans pay their money. They have a right to say what they want, the supporters. You just have to get on with it.

“I was just sticking up for my mate. I’ve been in it a long time.”

Saturday’s defeat, courtesy of Jamie Vardy’s 43rd-minute goal, means Albion have lost six of their last eight games, leading to increased frustrations inside The Hawthorns, with the club in danger of missing out on a top-half finish which for much of the season appeared a formality.

Pulis, meanwhile, remains hopeful Darren Fletcher will agree a new deal in the next few weeks, after the skipper was left out of a Baggies starting line-up in the Premier League for the first time.

Fletcher had made 86 consecutive starts since joining on a free transfer from Manchester United in January 2015.

Pulis insisted his omission on Saturday had nothing to do with any uncertainty over his future and was simply down to the 33-year-old needing a rest.

“Fingers crossed in that the next couple of weeks we get that (the contract) sorted out,” he said. “The decision to leave him out had nothing to do with that.

“The disappointment more than anything else is we didn’t deserve to lose. Irrespective of anything else, the players did enough to get something out of the game.

“We have to accept that if you are not right on it, and if we are not getting the breaks, it is such a tight league and this kind of thing can happen.”