Blackburn Rovers were hoping to celebrate Tugay's 294th and final appearance for the club with a victory.
Instead the home supporters were left debating the second half dismissal of striker Jason Roberts ten minutes after he stepped off the bench.
Roberts was red-carded by referee Mike Jones for an apparent off-the-ball incident with Jonas Olsson.
But the official's decision left most people baffled, not least manager Sam Allardyce, who shook his head in bewilderment.
He had sent Roberts on after an hour for Chris Samba, following his recovery from a stress fracture of the foot.
But it turned out to be only a cameo role and Blackburn had to settle for a point.
With Blackburn safe and West Brom relegated it did have the feel of a testimonial match for Tugay after eight seasons at Ewood Park.
Tugay was given a standing ovation when he came off in the 85th minute and was replaced by Martin Olsson.
He responded by waving to all corners of the ground as his name was chanted loud and long by a grateful home support.
Even though they are going down, West Brom have been widely applauded for their good football.
They had their moments with Northern Ireland midfielder Chris Brunt causing Blackburn problems.
He skipped away from Stephen Warnock in the fifth minute and rattled in a shot that was diverted to safety by Gael Givet.
Blackburn hit back and stand-in striker Samba showed good footwork on the edge of area six minutes later only for his effort clear the bar.
Samba turned quickly in the area in the 15th minute after being released by Benni McCarthy and his effort beat Dean Kiely but came back off the post.
Kiely had to be alert five minutes later to parry a Morten Gamst Pedersen's superb free-kick from distance.
West Brom again found themselves on the back foot a minute later but Tugay's instinctive effort went wide of the post.
Blackburn had a scare in the 38th minute when Brunt, who has been in good form recently, made space for himself 20 yards out.
He thumped in a shot that went narrowly wide of goalkeeper Paul Robinson's left hand post.
Robinson then prevented his side from going behind when he somehow got his hands to a Brunt thunderbolt and pushed the ball onto the bar.
Brunt tried to get West Brom going four minutes into the second half when he released Gianni Zuiverloon but he failed to get any power on his shot.
The visitors pushed forward again in the 53rd minute and Juan Menseguez laid the ball back to Robert Koren.
He weighed up his options before trying his luck on goal, only for his effort to finish wide of the post.
Roberts then came on for Samba in the hour with Allardyce hoping he would give them a cutting edge.
Minutes later the visiting supporters screamed for a penalty when Givet handled the ball but referee Jones would have none of it and waved play on.
West Brom should have taken the lead in the 64th minute but Marc-Antoine Fortune was wasteful heading wide from close range following Koren's cross.
They kept up the pressure but Brunt also failed to test Robinson three minutes later from a good position.
Then Blackburn were forced to play out the final 20 minutes with 10 men following Roberts' dismissal and the match finished all-square.
