Report and free match highlights as West Brom march to Championship summit after beating winless Portsmouth; goals from Alex Mowatt, including a second-half stunner, and Josh Maja secured victory; Maja has scored five times this season, more than any other player in the division
Sunday 15 September 2024 18:30, UK
Alex Mowatt's brace, after Josh Maja became the Championship's leading goalscorer, sent West Brom top of the table with a clinical 3-0 victory over winless Portsmouth.
The in-form Maja bagged his fifth goal of the season inside the first minute - with only Manchester City's Erling Haaland scoring more goals in the top four divisions this season.
Mowatt struck twice after the break to put the unbeaten Baggies a point ahead of Sunderland at the summit.
Albion, who were unchanged for a fifth match this season, led after 54 seconds after a quick throw-in down the right flank gave Tom Fellows space to outpace Connor Ogilvie and cut back to the heart of the box.
Maja met it to thump past Will Norris and make it five goals from just nine shots this season.
For Fellows, it was his fourth assist, with no one setting up more goals in the Premier League or EFL so far this campaign.
It set the tone for a ding-dong opening 45 minutes, with both sides going at full throttle.
Pompey had more possession and plenty of threat, but their best chance of an immediate riposte was through their press, which caught West Brom out on a number of occasions.
Mowatt was the worst offender when he was picked off by Calum Lang, but the attacking midfielder's effort was deflected narrowly wide.
Albion started quickly in the second half and got their second goal through Mowatt's seventh for the club, six minutes after the interval.
The midfielder started the attack on the halfway line before smart interplay between John Swift and Grant saw the ball return to Mowatt, who calmly found the top corner.
Murphy lashed across goal as Pompey's attempts to find a way back into the match failed to muster a shot on target.
In stoppage time, Mowatt placed a free-kick into the opposite corner to his first goal to send the 2,159 Baggies fans home in great cheer.
West Brom manager Carlos Corberan:
"The message is to ourselves. It is how much work we have to put in to win football matches in the Championship.
"I like to achieve when the team deserves to win and you can only win when you put in the work.
"What I like to see is us competing with the right mentality and the right style.
"We will take things we have to take and correct from this match, but it is important that the players have their reward."
Portsmouth manager John Mousinho:
"The scoreline doesn't reflect the balance of the game, particularly in the first half where we should have perhaps got the equaliser.
"It was frustrating from that point of view but in those small moments, both ends cost us.
"We didn't put our chances away whereas they did - and that was the difference. They are a bit more clinical and streetwise.
"I've learned much more about our players today, which was positive. My question to them was, 'What do you take from this game that says you cannot compete at this level?'"
