Report by Ben Davis

Pompey's third straight win and suddenly there is light at the end of the tunnel. For the fans who thought this game against West Brom was going to be a battle must have been rather shocked at the stylish performance Pompey put in. They totally outplayed their hosts and at the end the home fans cheered Pompey off as they booed their own players. Alan Ball has now asked the players to do it again in the home game with Tranmere, if results go their way they could move out of the zone after the match.
Andy Thomson returned to the starting eleven in place of the out of form Jimmy Carter who failed to shine against Reading. David Hillier also returned in place of Sammy Igoe who was dropped altogether. Ball reverted to five at the back with Pethick and Robinson as the wing backs. West Brom started their new 500,000 pound signing James Quinn in attack alongside Bob Taylor who was back from a loan spell with Bolton.
Pompey in their all yellow strip, as they were against Reading, again had the backing of a noisy contingent from the South Coast which has helped the players on pitch for the last two games. The best chance in the early stages fell to Aloisi who from a Pethick cross headed wide. A minute later Pompey took the lead with the help of a deflection. Pethick, in oceans of space down the right, played a return ball to Hillier on the edge of the box and his shot took a knock off Burgess's foot and the ball rolled into the far corner beyond Miller's desperate dive.
Hillier couldn't believe it and after the game he picked up 20 pounds after he placed a bet with home keeper Alan Miller. West Brom were also stunned and Pompey had the chance to finish off a team who haven't won a game at home since new manager Denis Smith took over. Their confidence was clearly low and it seems their play-off hopes could fade away if they continue like this.
One major factor for Pompey's improvement has been their defence which was allowing the West Brom strikers little room to create any danger. Flahavan was hardly being troubled and like in the last two games his handling was excellent.
Then in the 33rd minute Pompey struck again with a brilliant goal which saw the home fans stand up and applaud it. Hillier made a good tackle in his own half before finding McLoughlin who played a 50-yard ball forward towards Claridge. He sprung their offside trap and as he moved to the edge of the box he let fly with a stunning shot which crashed into the net off the top of the far post.
Two minutes later, with West Brom's defence at sixes and sevens, Pompey could have made it three. Claridge, clearly enjoying himself, worked space for a cross which Whitbread met and he was denied his second goal of the week by Murphy's clearance off the line. Pompey were now flying and just before half-time they had the ball in the net when from McLoughlin's pass Aloisi steered the ball in but the goal was ruled out for offside.
The home side certainly had plenty of possession in the early moments of the second half with Quinn looking the most threatening of the West Brom players. However, they lacked that cutting edge to break down Pompey's impressive defence with Awford the pick of the trio with his calmness and simple distribution. If anyone was going to score the next goal it was Pompey who looked the far brighter side when in attack.
In the 60th minute Aloisi, who had so far given the home defence problems all match, got ahead of Murphy to get a sight of goal but instead of shooting he decided to pass and the chance had gone as West Brom snuffed out the danger. A great pass by Whitbread then found Pethick who had ventured forward and his shot flew into the side-netting.
Four minutes later the busy Claridge again caused more confusing in the West Brom defence when he got in a cross which Aloisi put wide to his frustration. With West Brom just beginning to pose a threat of scoring and possibly pulling things around, Alan Ball brought on the Mad Dog, Martin Allen, to add some bit to the midfield. Hillier came off for him and three minutes later Svensson came on for Aloisi.
The Swede maybe should have done better in the 75th minute when he fired over from close range before Claridge went for more glory but this time struck a shot wide of Miller's goal. Ten minutes later the game was effectively finished as Pompey scored a third.
A corner was played short to McLoughlin, his low cross beat everyone including Miller and the ball flicked in off the far post. McLoughlin celebrated as did the bench, but he as a rival for the goal as Claridge claimed he got a toe onto the cross. Claridge though looks to have given up on the claim.
By now the ground was half-empty as the West Brom fans had already gone home very angry at what they had seen. There were shouts of 'what a load of rubbish' and believe it or not 'Smith Out' which could be some sort of record as the guy's only been in charge for a couple of months. The home fans who did remain booed their side's passes and cheered Pompey's and at the final whistle gave the boys in yellow a standing ovation.
The joy of another away win was again there to see with Vlachos throwing his shirt into the Pompey fans, he said: "I want to thank them for being there for us." He also said that he would gladly pay 40 pounds for a new shirt.