Foster was handed the start less than 24 hours after arriving on a season-long loan from Birmingham City, and his saves helped Hodgson’s side to only their second clean sheet since he became manager five months ago.
Hodgson told the club’s official website: “I recognised a Premier League goalkeeper in Ben, a goalkeeper who has been allowed to leave Manchester United.
“I understand Sir Alex wanted to keep him there behind Edwin van der Sar because he is such a good keeper.
“The times he’s been let out on loan he’s done extremely well.
“So much so that Birmingham City were tempted to pay a lot of money for his signature.
“He was a No.2 goalkeeper at Manchester United and we know a lot about him from playing there and at Birmingham.
“He’s just the type of goalkeeper we need and it’s a happy day for me because this is the second time since I joined in February that we’ve kept a clean sheet.
“Clean sheets are something I don’t know anything about!”
Hodgson also drew comparison to Foster’s former England colleague David James, who was playing for Bristol City, adding: “David had more chance to show off his skills because he had more to do.
“But we’re very pleased with Ben because he made one excellent save and took up a very good position to force a player to shoot a bit wider than he would have liked.
“He was, like David, very, very secure on crosses throughout the game.
“I think we put David to the test a bit more but that was because we had a lot more chances in behind the Bristol defence.
“All credit to the Bristol players for getting back into position and credit to David because, when we did get free and I thought we were going to score, he stood in the way.”
West Brom open their Premier League season at home to champions Manchester United on August 14.
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Roy Hodgson impressed with Ben Foster’s West Brom debut