Josh Maja terrific, 4/10 tragic – West Brom player ratings v Preston
Chris Brunt continued to impress as interim West Brom boss with a 3-1 win against Preston North End on Wednesday.
Josh Maja ended his torrid spell in front of goal in sensational fashion as his first-half brace put the hosts firmly in the driver’s seat at The Hawthorns (1 January).
Callum Styles doubled the Baggies’ advantage in between Maja’s two strikes with an eye-catching effort from the edge of the opposition box after a well-worked corner kick routine.
Preston managed to pull back a consolation goal after Jed Wallace’s misplaced pass, but the Baggies remained on top throughout the contest.
Here, West Brom News rates the performance of each player out of 10.
Alex Palmer – 6
Palmer dealt superbly with the late Preston surge in the second half after a quiet first half performance, Wallace’s sloppy back pass cost the goalkeeper a clean sheet.
Darnell Furlong – 7
The right-back was thorn in the back of Preston all afternoon and showed great determination to break into the space and lay the ball on a plate for Maja to seal the three points for West Brom.
Kyle Bartley – 6
Bartley had little to do at The Hawthorns but dealt with everything Preston thrown his way effortlessly but received a needless yellow card in the dying embers with the scoreline settled.
Tobjorn Heggem – 6
Heggem had one or two nervy moments in the Baggies backline but ultimately remained untested as the hosts dominated the contest.
Callum Styles [off for Gianluca Frabotta 79′] – 7
The 24-year-old collected the ball well on the edge of the penalty area and fired a glorious effort past Freddie Woodman but was fortunate to escape further consequence after his challenge on Ben Whiteman.
Jayson Molumby – 6
Molumby played his role admirably in the West Midlands, he kept the ball moving as West Brom dominated possession and thwarted a late Preston resurgence.
Ousmane Diakite – 6
Diakite can be proud of his display on Wednesday, the Malian international dominated the midfield battle and helped keep Preston at bay.
Tom Fellows drops a stinker for West Brom before substitution
Tom Fellows [off for Jed Wallace 46′] – 4
The 21-year-old failed to make any notable impact at The Hawthorns and has a sparked fresh injury concern for the Baggies after his half-time removal.
Karlan Grant [off for Devante Cole 73′] – 5
The Englishman struggled to follow-up his goal against Sheffield United last time out and failed to get himself involved in the action in a fairly underwhelming outing.
Mikey Johnston [off for Grady Diangana 61′] – 8
Johnston skipped past the Preston defence to lay it on a plate for Maja to score the opening goal of the afternoon and found Style from the corner-kick to double the advantage.
Josh Maja [off for Uros Racic 73′] – 9
The Nigerian was back his clinical best against Preston and took full advantage of two golden opportunities to move closer to Borja Sainz in the goalscoring charts.
Substitutions
Jed Wallace – 5
Wallace offered no attacking threat throughout the second half and was left red-faced after gifting Preston a consolation after 70 minutes.
Grady Diangana – 5
Diangana offered nothing after replacing Johnston on the hour mark, could have stayed on the bench.
Devante Cole – N/A
Uros Racic – N/A
Gianluca Frabotta – N/A
In other West Brom news, Albion have their answer after a managerial approach was made for an ex-England boss.
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