Albion 5 - 0 Pompey 23/02/02 Match report

Nationwide Division 1
WBA v Portsmouth
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WBA v Portsmouth
Referee: M G Cowburn	Attendance: 21,028

Final Result
WBA 5 (4)	Portsmouth 0 (0)
Jason Roberts 8, 80 Larus Sigurdsson 24 Scott Dobie 38 Igor Balis 45

Match Squads
WBA	Portsmouth
Hoult, Russell 17. Sigurdsson, Larus 5. Butler, Tony 6. Gilchrist, Phil 16. Balis, Igor 23. Chambers, Adam 4. McInnes, Derek Johnson, Andy 3. Clement, Neil 18. Dobie, Scott 11. Roberts, Jason	Beasant, Dave Buxton, Lewis 24. Hiley, Scott 13. Zamperini, Alessandro Thorgersen, Thomas Pettefer, Carl 12. Quashie, Nigel Prosinecki, Robert Vincent, Jamie Crouch, Peter Biagini, Leo

Substitutes
Jordao, 19. Cummings, Warren 9. Taylor, Bob Adamson, Chris 7. Fox, Ruel	Waterman, David Tardif, Chris Pitt, Courtney 8. Rudonja, Mladen Cooper, Shaun

Match Report extracts from various resources

Defenders Larus Sigurdsson and Igor Balis scored their first goals for West Bromwich Albion as Gary Megson's side went goal crazy against struggling Portsmouth at the Hawthorns. Promotion-chasing Albion left Portsmouth shell-shocked after a four first-half goals to send Graham Rix's Fratton Park side crashing to their seventh defeat in their last eight away games.

Portsmouth were simply outgunned by a rampant Albion side who bounced back in style from their first defeat of the year at Millwall last Tuesday. A double from Jason Roberts and strikes from Sigurdsson, Scot Dobie and Balis sent Portsmouth crashing to their seventh defeat in their last eight games to increase the pressure on Rix.

Albion set the tone for the half when Roberts fired them in front after just eight minutes when he scored from six yards after Dobie had nodded down a cross from Balis. Dobie also had a hand in Sigurdsson's firs goal for the club - two and half years after a £350,000 move from Stoke City. Dobie and Andy Johnson saw their shots beaten away by Portsmouth goalkeeper Dave Beasant but when the loose ball dropped to Sigurdsson the Icelandic international fired into an empty net from just four yards in the 23rd minute. Dobie then ended his five-month goal drought 15 minutes later after good play from Balis. Balis outpaced the Portsmouth wing-back Jamie Vincent and sent a ball into the path of Dobie who then had the simple task of rolling his shot into an empty net from 12 yards with Beasant out of position.

The impressive Balis, who had joined Albion for £150,000 from Slovan Bratislava last season, then got in on the act when he collected a pass from Roberts three minutes before half-time and used his pace to speed into the area where he calmly chipped the ball over Beasant. Shell-shocked Portsmouth only managed to get one shot on target - a weak 74th-minute free kick from Robert Prosinecki.

Their dismal day was completed 11 minutes from time when Roberts collected a pass and beat the offside trap before sliding the ball under Beasant at his near post

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