'Worth the wait': Josh Maja on his West Brom return after a season of injury hell

Maja, who arrived at Albion last summer, suffered two major ankle injuries during his first season at The Hawthorns.

He would scored just once last season and started just one game, away at Sunderland, in which he suffered a bad ankle injury.

After a summer of extra work on the training field, Maja returned with a bang on Saturday with an opening day hat-trick as Albion swept aside QPR at Loftus Road.

The striker said: “You can’t get better than that as a start to the season – to get the three goals and the three points for the team.

“It made it worth the wait for everything that happened to me last season. The challenges I had to deal with were typical of the Championship.

“But I just want to stay injury-free this season, take the opportunity, work hard and score goals.

“The second header was my favourite, not something I naturally do – get in there at the back stick. But I timed it well and it went in the back of the net.

“The crosses were great though today so credit to my team-mates, we work hard on that on the training pitch. And it is up to me to be in the right place at the right time.

"My faith has been my strength helping me through some difficult times. My Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ helped me through those tough times and come out stronger. Every goal I score will be dedicated to him.

“It’s a blessing to make history [‘first Albion player to score an opening-day hat-trick in 101 years] but I want to stay humble and keep working hard."

Albion came into the first game of the season under the backdrop of the financial issues off the field.

Chairman Shilen Patel and Bilkul Football WBA have been working to balance the books at The Hawthorns, and ensure Albion are compliant with financial fair play rules, following the rocky reign of Guochuan Lai.

Last week it emerged that Albion had been working closely with the EFL on a range of financial issues, which came on the back of three players being sold in the space of a week.

Asked about the off field talk and whether it made its way into the dressing room, Maja said: “The talk about off-field matters is not something we can control as players, all we can do is focus on our job, train hard and compete in matches.

“I have never paid any attention to that talk, the focus for me, the team and the coach is to do our bit on the pitch. What happens behind closed doors is for others to sort out."