Portsmouth fail to capitalise on a strong opening 20 minutes at The Hawthorns and end up on the wrong side of a thrashing.
It’s another defeat on the road for Portsmouth, as John Mousinho’s side are smashed 5-1 by West Bromwich Albion.
After today’s results, Pompey have dropped down 3 places in the second tier, from 18th down to 21st and sit just 2 points above the drop.
It’s now 3 months without a win away from home for the Blues as their home form continues to keep Pompey alive and well in the Championship relegation battle.
Things were actually looking very lively for Portsmouth early on, spending a lot of time in West Brom’s half and had one of Pompey’s efforts on goal gone in, this game could have ended very differently.
They had a chance to take the lead inside just one minute after Colby Bishop flicked the ball off to those behind him, before being met by Andre Dozzell on the half-volley, but the Blues midfielder’s effort was a simple save for Alex Palmer in the Baggies goal.
Just before the half hour mark, Darnell Furlong was left in aces of space down the right hand flank after a looping ball from John Swift, before Grady Diangana received the ball to lay it off to Alex Mowatt outside the area.
Mowatt hit the ball with ounces of power into the bottom left-hand corner, with question marks on if Nicholas Schmid could have got down to it, but ultimately there was too much aggression on the strike, allowing it to put the Baggies 1-0 up.
The West Brom midfielder now has six goals this season, with half of them coming against Pompey, one today and two in the reverse fixture at Fratton Park back in September.
Despite a positive start by John Mousinho’s side, after West Brom’s first goal, the Baggies began to grow further into the game and they did that by doubling their lead just ten minutes later. Mikey Johnston hit a double nutmeg on both Terry Delving and then Zak Swanson, on a solo run with the ball before hitting one at Schmid who made the save, but the Austrian’s parry away from goal was not enough as it fell to Diangana to add a goal to his earlier assist.
Just 5 minutes later, it was the former Pompey man Jed Wallace who put away Diangana’s forward pass to make it 3-0, with the Blues defence being nowhere to be seen to stop the man that Portsmouth signed from Lewes 14 years ago.
Just 1 minute before half-time Diangana snatched his second goal of the afternoon and West-Brom’s fourth of the afternoon to round off a nightmare first half for Portsmouth.
Half-time: West Brom 4-0 Portsmouth
Four goals was apparently not enough for Tony Mowbray’s side, as they made it 5-0 just ten minutes into the second 45.
Johnston’s sole run down the left wing again was rewarded with a goal, when the Irish international set the ball up for the Portsmouth born John Swift who smashed the ball into the back of the net to make it five and make Portsmouth’s afternoon that little bit more mortifying.
The travelling Blue army decided to bring out the old tunes from over the years, when they began chanting some rather memorable Pompey chants.
“Raggett for England” “Jamal Lowe, Lowe” and despite still being contracted to the club, but not registered, the away supporters began singing “Tommy Lowery” for the rest if the second half.
It was then a debut for Thomas Waddingham who come on for Colby Bishop, with the Australian forward singing from Brisbane Roar earlier this week.
Waddingham’s debut came off to be the only positive for Portsmouth all game, when the 19-year-old Aussie found himself on the score sheet with the last kick of the game, when he finished off his rebounded shot following a save from Palmer in the 93rd minute.
Full-time: West Brom 5-1 Portsmouth
Next up: It’s back to Fratton Park under the lights for John Mousinho’s side as they welcome Alex Neil’s Millwall in what is a must win, or things could go south again very quickly for Portsmouth.
It may very well be the home form that keeps Pompey up this season, but the pressure will continue to pile on the Blues regardless of their home record and a failure to even get a point this Tuesday will put Pompey in big trouble in that relegation mix.
This is not a game that was scheduled to happen on the 28th January when the fixtures were released in June 2024, but this tie was initially meant to make place on the 26th November last year.
However, due to a power cut just moments before kick off the game was abandoned in fear of safety reasons for the supporters in the crowd.
Millwall have found themselves slowly dropping into the rather tense Championship relegation battle as of late, but we be full of confidence after securing a desperate 1-0 win at Luton Town in one of three early kick off's today.
Will it be a fourth consecutive home win in 2025 for Pompey? Or can Millwall make it two away victory’s in a row and crawl further away from the bottom 3 scrap.
West Bromwich Albion: 1. Palmer (GK), 4. Styles, 14. Heggem, 3. Holgate, 2. Furlong, 10. Swift (21. Price), 27. Mowatt (17. Diakite), 7. Wallace (C) (44. Cole), 22. Johnston (18. Grant), 31. Fellows, 11. Diangana (20. Racic)
Unused subs: 23. Wildsmith (GK), 15. Taylor, 24. Frabotta, 37. Bostock
Goals: Mowatt 25’ Diangana 32’ Wallace 37’ Diangana 44’ Swift 56’
Portsmouth: 13. Schmid (GK), 22. Swanson (2. Williams), 7. Pack (C), 4. Towler, 3. Ogilvie (23. Murphy), 45. Hayden (8. Potts), 21. Dozzell, 24. Devlin, 30. Ritchie (49. Lang) 15. Saydee, 9. Bishop (20. Waddingham)
Unused Subs: 31. Archer (GK), 16. McIntyre, 17. Moxon, 35. Atkinson
Bookings: Dozzell 60’, Ritchie 62’, Williams 78’
Goals: Waddingham 90+3’
Venue: The Hawthorns
Referee: Jarred Gillett
Attendance: 25,261
Take a listen back to the Pompey Live: Extra-Time podcast from today's broadcast on Express FM to hear Jake Smith, Ryan Honey and James Wilson provide reaction to the defeat at The Hawthorns.
The Football Hour will be back on Monday (January 27th) from 6pm with more analysis from this afternoon's game and a preview of the midweek visit of Millwall to Fratton Park.
Comments
Add a comment