THE HORSE IS FED TWICE, AS BATTLING BAGGIES OVERCOME POMPEY AT THE HAWTHORNS!!!

Geoff Horsfield scored twice as Albion continued their unbeaten start to the campaign by notching up their first Premiership win of the season. Ex-Wigan & Blues striker Horsfield climbed highest to head home the first following a Jonathan Greening left wing cross, before scrambling in his second after a mazy dribble inside the six yard box. Laurent Robert replied for the visitors with a trademark free kick, but they failed to get an equaliser as the Baggies hung on for all three points.

Albion began the game like a steam engine, as they put Portsmouth under early pressure and it took just two minutes for the Baggies to score their first Premiership goal of the season, as Geoff Horsfield rose above the visiting defence to power down a header into the back of the net via a Greening left wing cross. Moments later it could have been 2-0 to the hosts, as following a wonderful move between Campbell and Gera the Hungarian swung in a low cross which Horsfield managed to get to but fortunately for Pompey he could only side-foot the ball wide of goal.

At the other end, LuaLua almost equalised for Portsmouth after Karadas played the Congo man through, he shrugged off the challenge of Gaardsoe but fired inches wide of Kirkland’s right hand post. However the Baggies still looked worthy of their lead, and they almost doubled it but former Welsh International Andy Johnson curled a right footed shot just wide after Wallwork had set him up.

Another superb move by Bryan Robson’s men finished off with left back Paul Robinson having a dig from just outside the box but his left footed drive was always curling away from goal. LuaLua was still causing a threat at the other end though, when his clever running enabled him to ghost into the penalty area, but he could only drill a left foot shot just wide of Kirkland’s goal.

Half Time: Albion 1-0 Portsmouth

The second half began with Pompey on the attack, as they went searching for an equaliser. Ex-Newcastle man Laurent Robert tried a couple of free kicks but both failed to trouble the Albion wall. Minutes later however a quick counter attack from the visitors resulted in the ball eventually finding the dangerous LuaLua deep inside the penalty area but from a narrow angle he failed to trouble Kirkland as he blazed his shot well wide of goal.

In the 60th minute, Albion made it 2-0, when a neat pass from Gera found Geoff Horsfield on the right hand side, the former Wigan man neatly sidestepped his marker Vignal before unleashing a left-footed drive which Pompey keeper Westerveld got a hand to but could not prevent the ball from rolling over the line. Just four minutes later Pompey reduced the deficit when free-kick specialist Laurent Robert curled a wonder set piece over the Baggies wall and into the back of the net.

Robert was at it again moments later, when this time he unselfishly curled in a left footed free kick onto the head of Viafara, to the relief of the Baggies supporters the ball sailed well over Chris Kirkland’s crossbar. The visitors were now putting Albion under all kinds of pressure as they pushed for a late equaliser. Thomas Gaardsoe and Ronnie Wallwork both had to be on defensive duties to clear the ball away from the danger area.    

Substitute Robert Earnshaw almost killed the game off in injury time when the Baggies caught Portsmouth on the counter attack, man of the match Horsfield teed up the chance for the Welsh striker on a plate but instead of taking the ball on he hit it first time and keeper Westerveld was able to make the save. There was still time for Pompey to have a final say but substitute Skopelitis incredibly blazed his shot well wide of the goal from just inside the six yard box after a low Robert cross had deceived the home defence.

Full Time: Albion 2-1 Portsmouth

MAN OF THE MATCH: Geoff Horsfield

PLAYER RATINGS OUT OF TEN

Kirkland 6 - Not much to do to be honest, made a bad clearance on one occasion, but apart from that looked comfortable.
Watson 7 - A solid home debut, likes his crunching tackles like Robinson but looks like he will be a very good signing.    
Gaardsoe 7 - Composed at the back always aware of danger when it came. Seems to be getting better and better each Premiership game he plays.
Clement 7 - Another one who seems to be improving at the back, rarely troubled apart from when LuaLua escaped twice.
Robinson 8 - A fantastic performance by Robbo, never shirked one challenge as usual and was solid throughout.
Gera 5 - Poor performance from Zoltan, but maybe it was playing the full 90 minutes for Hungary in midweek. Although he did create the second goal.
Johnson 5 - A disappointing display by him. Works his socks off but just not good enough for the Premiership in my opinion.
Wallwork 6 - Steady game, showed some nice passing as usual.
Greening 7 - Much improved from last week, created the first goal with a wonderful cross, but fizzed out Second Half.
Campbell 6 - Was always involved in creative attacking moves, but still does not get into goal scoring positions enough.  
Horsfield 9 - All round superb display by the Horse, never stopped working and chasing, constantly caused the Pompey defence problems.

SUBS:
Earnshaw 7 - Looked sharp when he came on, and was unlucky not to score with a late chance.
Albrechtsen 7 - One excellent run from him, but was reliable when slipped in at right back.

REF WATCH

Mike Riley 3 - Very poor in my opinion, wrong on a lot of decisions for both sides.

FAN WATCH

Albion 5 - Average chants now and then, but can be better.
Portsmouth 5 - Not the Pompey chimes we usually hear, very quiet on their part.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Well all round it was a battling performance, the first half was superb and we played some fantastic football at times but in the second half we seemed to never get going and gave the ball away quite a lot but I will take four points from two games, that is just the start we wanted. I thought Geoff Horsfield and Paul Robinson were outstanding for us today, and it just shows how Bryan Robson has transformed this team into players who have the utmost respect for him. I also have to say that Watson looked really solid and much better to what I had seen of him in the pre-season friendlies.

As for the game itself I thought we battled well against a Pompey side that looked very jaded to me but we still looked very good against them and thoroughly deserved our win. It is still early days yet and I am sure we will improve throughout the season and if we can play the kind of football that we did in the first half then relegation is the least of our worries.

Next we face Chelsea though who are of course a much different proposition so it will be interesting to see how we fare against them in midweek. The defence looks very solid at the moment, but against Roman’s rich boys? Now that will be a test!

"We had a great chance at the end as did Portsmouth, but that's what happens when you get anxious and the game goes end-to-end. That was disappointing but we got away with it and overall, with the amount of good situations we had, we deserved the three points."

"A good start is really important for the players' confidence. They have started to believe in themselves after staying up last year. They are enjoying the challenge of Premiership football now but it is a long hard season and we can't ask anymore than getting our first win in our second game, when it took six or seven games to achieve it last season."