West Brom 5 Portsmouth 1: Rampant Baggies clinical on Mowbray's Hawthorns return

The hapless visitors were swotted aside by a convincing Albion who, in just Mowbray's second game, showed why owners Bilkul turned to the 61-year-old for his attacking, free-scoring brand.

A rotated Portsmouth side, regularly beaten away from home this season, were comically bad at times as goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid endured a nightmare but Albion flooded forward time and again and were relentless in their pursuit of chances and goals.

The Baggies hope a run of just four wins in 24 before this clash is a thing of the past as Albion's attackers clicked with Grady Diangana and Mikey Johnston in inspired form.

Jed Wallace and John Swift, often maligned this season, scored their first goals of the campaign as the former surprisingly led the line.

The story of the end of Albion's January transfer window is which striker they bring in to cover for Josh Maja. That need remains as strong as ever given Pompey's desperately sub-par level but a new striker was far from Baggies fans' thoughts amid five goals scored between minutes 25 and 55.

It was certainly an example of the love and confidence Mowbray has given to Diangana, Wallace and Swift since his appointment.

The rout lifted the Baggies two places to fifth, on goal difference above Middlesbrough, in the Championship. It was the biggest win since the same scoreline against Swansea in December 2019.

Visitors Pompey had rung the changes from their home midweek win over Stoke, with several big-hitters rested in favour of home fixtures.

Despite that, John Mousinho's visitors started brightly at a muted Hawthorns. Makeshift right winger Zak Swanson fired a half-volley well over.

It took the hosts a quarter of an hour to rally as Diangana flashed a decent 20-yard drive narrowly wide. Big Pompey defender Ryley Towler headed wide from a corner at the back post.