West Brom boss Tony Pulis admitted he substituted James McClean in Saturday's 1-1 draw with Sunderland because he feared he would be sent off.
The Republic of Ireland winger was booed at every touch by the home fans on his return to Wearside and was eventually taken off after picking up a booking for a rash challenge on Wahbi Khazri.
"I just felt that with the booking, the crowd can sway things at this place, so I thought it was right to change him," said Pulis.
"He'd played his part. James is James. He does some good things and he does some daft things at times, but he's wholehearted, he gives everything he's got and he's a really honest boy.
"The group love him, they do, they've really, really got a lot of time for James."
David Moyes heaped praise on McClean's compatriot John O'Shea after the veteran helped his struggling side to dig out a point.
The Scot said: "We'd love John to be 24 and just coming up - and what a good player he was when he was 24. But as we know, he's now 34, so we know there's another stage."
However, no matter how flattered he might have been by his manager's assessment of his performance, O'Shea had to correct him.
The former Manchester United defender told the club's official website, www.safc.com: "I'll have to add another one on to that because it's 35!
"Look, it's one of those things. That's when the squad is needed. You have to be ready. The manager decided it was my turn and you have to come in and impress.
"We were desperate for that clean sheet and that's the big thing going forward for us because if we get that clean sheet, we are going to get chances to score."
The injury-hit Black Cats needed an 83rd-minute equaliser from substitute Patrick van Aanholt to snatch a 1-1 draw at the Stadium of Light and avoid a fourth successive home defeat.
Sunderland were aided in no small part by the return of O'Shea, whose enduring organisational skills helped to prevent the Baggies from adding to the 35th-minute lead they were given by Nacer Chadli's strike.
He was, ultimately, satisfied with a point. "Look, we want to be beating West Brom at home, but we had stages where we were pushing, we were leaving ourselves a little bit open too, but I thought we deserved to get back into the game.
"We did and could have gone on to win it, but we are happy with the point because we could have lost it too."
