West Brom 4 Reading 1 - Report and pictures

Considering we've only just entered October, and played 12 games, that is some statistic.

Once again the league's top scorers blew away their opposition at The Hawthorns, this time to make it five league wins on the spin at home.

But that does not tell the whole story of this match which looked like going a completely different way at half-time.

Darren Moore's favourite cliche is "one game at a time" but this game lent itself to another well-worn phrase in football, because never before has their been "a game of two halves" as distinct as this.

The Baggies were dreadful before the break, lacking pace, energy and movement, and they went into the interval deservedly behind, having switched off to Leandro Bacuna's short corner in the sixth minute.

After half-time they were electric, and played with the sort of speed fans have become accustomed to at The Hawthorns this season.

Dwight Gayle scored twice, Harvey Barnes added a third, and then Kyle Bartley wrapped the game up ten minutes from time with a looping header.

It was a four-goal blitz in 32 minutes that blew Reading away and took Albion second in the table.

Moore made just one change to the side that started against Sheffield Wednesday in midweek, replacing Chris Brunt with Gareth Barry and handing the veteran midfielder the captain's armband.

Reading's top scorer Jon Dadi Bodvarsson started the day with more goals than Gayle, but he missed out through injury.

Paul Clement matched Albion up with a 5-3-2 formation, and the Royals stunned their hosts six minutes in with a well-worked goal from a short corner that caught Albion napping.

Leandro Bacuna played a quick one-two with John Swift around Kieran Gibbs but nobody went out to close the former Aston Villa man and he rifled a shot in off the far post.

That should have been a wake-up call for the Baggies, but their visitors continued to pose the bigger threat.

Craig Dawson had to hack clear a cross after a gorgeous sweeping move up the right before Yakou Meite headed Bacuna's cross straight at Johnstone.

Reading were keeping the ball well, and it wasn't until 18 minutes in that Albion threatened their goal with a sweeping move up the pitch.

After Dawson had found Jay Rodriguez, he played Barnes in behind, but Gayle couldn't quite reach the youngster's low cross to the back post.

The Baggies had started to creep further up the pitch by now, but that left them vulnerable on the break and 24 minutes in dangerman Bacuna burst away from Gareth Barry.

He found Marc McNulty's run in behind, but the striker grazed the far post from a narrow angle.

Barnes drilled a venomous long-range shot just past the post before Tyler Blackett volleyed over from a corner.

Reading were compact and well drilled, and they were closing down any pockets of space quickly.

On the rare occasion Albion did get in behind, like half an hour in, when Dawson found Rodriguez, or three minutes later when Barnes found Gayle, the Royals were racing back to cut out any danger.

But on the whole it was a poor first half from the Baggies which lacked energy and movement off the ball, and the stats at half-time told the story.

While Reading had mustered up 14 shots with five on target, the hosts had only managed five efforts themselves, none of which had tested Sam Walker.

The Baggies started the second half much brighter though, and it took them just three minutes to draw level.

Tyrone Mears's looping cross should have been easily cut out by Walker but when he dallied, Gayle was on hand to nod home his seventh of the season.

The Championship player of the month immediately sprinted over to the dugout to hold up a yellow and green shirt with 'Jonah' on the back.

It was the shirt of 18-year-old fan Thomas Jones, whose body was recently found in the River Severn, and it came after a touching tribute to the Baggies fan before the match.

Albion started zipping the ball around with more purpose after that, although there were still giving it away with regularity in midfield.

Barnes nearly set up up a second with a cut-back from the byline, and the youngster had sparked into life by now, running at the Reading backline with his usual verve.

Moore sent on Kyle Edwards, who was this week named in the England U20 squad, to replace Mears shortly after the hour mark and it was a substitution warmly received by the home crowd.

The youngster nearly had an immediate impact, combining with Barnes to send him down the wing, but the No.10's cross destined for Gayle was cut out.

Albion's striker didn't have to wait long to get his second though, because 65 minutes in, Kyle Bartley powered a header down into the ground from a corner that he turned in for his eighth of the season.

There was some confusion as to who scored it, with the announcer giving it to Bartley, but Gayle wheeled away in his customary phone-call celebration, indicating he got a touch.

The Baggies were starting to enjoy themselves now, and flooding forward with the pace and verve we've become accustomed to this season.

Seven minutes after taking the lead, Barnes put distance between the sides with his archetypal goal.

This time though, instead of doing it all his own, he combined with Rodriguez to get in behind before setting himself and firing in his fifth of the season and Albion's third in 24 minutes.

Whatever Moore said at half-time was working, and soon after substitute Chris Brunt nearly added a fourth with an acrobatic volley after good work down the left by Kieran Gibbs.

Ten minutes from time and it was four. This time there was no doubting it was Bartley's, as his well-place header from a corner looped over the crowd and into the far corner.

It was a scoreline that looked impossible at half-time, but this team has proven time and again this season that it's got goals in it.

They are now unbeaten in seven matches in the league and have won every single league fixture at The Hawthorns since the opening day.

The international break is sure to be a happy one.

Key moments

06 GOAL READING - Bacuna catches Albion napping with a short corner before rifling a shot in off the far post.

48 GOAL ALBION - Gayle nods in Mears's looping cross at the far post before holding up Thomas Jones's Albion shirt in tribute.

65 GOAL ALBION - Bartley powers a corner down into the ground and Gayle turns it in.

72 GOAL ALBION - Barnes and Rodriguez combine before the No.10 fires in his fifth of the season.

80 GOAL ALBION - Bartley's looping header from a corner makes it four.

Man of the match

Harvey Barnes - Only one who moved in the first half, and scintillating after the break.

Position in the table

2nd, with 24 points from 12 games.

Teams

Albion (3-4-1-2): Johnstone; Dawson, Hegazi, Bartley; Mears (Edwards 62), Barry (c), Livermore (Brunt 67), Gibbs; Barnes (Adarabioyo 88); Rodriguez, Gayle.

Unused subs: Myhill, Townsend, Hoolahan, Robson-Kanu.

Reading (5-3-2): Walker, Ilori, Moore, Blackett, Gunter (Sims 76), Bacuna (Kelly 81), Ezatolahi, Yiadom, Swift, Meite, McNulty (Barrow 76).

Unused subs: Mannone, Aluko, Rinomhota, Kelly, Holmes.

Referee: Darren England

Attendance: 22,865 (907 away)