West Brom's Isaac Price will be 'marked man' in Championship as playmaker earns assistant coach plaudits

The Northern Ireland international made a big impact after arriving in January for £2.5m from Belgian side Standard Liege.

The former Everton youngsters' form was a rare highlight in what was a poor end to the season for Albion - as they slipped out of play off contention.

It was a busy summer for Price, who continued his goal scoring exploits at international level as he became the youngster player to score nine goals for Northern Ireland, eclipsing the likes of George Best.

He has carried that on into the Championship season - finding the winner in the opening day victory over Blackburn, before his man of the match display at Wrexham where his two strikes helped Albion to a 3-2 victory.

He has been grabbing all the headlines and plaudits in Albion's winning start to the season - but he endured a difficult afternoon in the 1-1 draw against Blackburn Rovers.

Aside from an early shot over the bar and a few moments - Price's threat was snuffed out by Pompey.

They marked the playmaker tightly, and didn't allow him space to turn and create for Albion - as they struggled to break down the South Coast visitors.

Albion assistant head coach Gibbs believes the way Portsmouth set up to stop Price is a testament to his early season goal scoring form.

And he insisted that the challenge for Price is to find the answer to different problems - as he stated the Northern Ireland international is now going to be a 'marked man' in the Championship.

He explained: "It was difficult to find space at times, but we dominated the ball in the second half.

"When you do that you have to move the ball quickly and get it wide, and move it from one side to the other.

"Isaac is going to be a marked man now, he has been terrific for us scoring goals so far.

"Credit to him, he kept going and like I say, the players did everything we asked of them we just couldn't find that final ball or cross or shot to get us the winner.

"It is a challenge for him now, and that is absolutely credit to him for what he has been doing so far.

"He is a willing worker and we'll work with him and others.

"Obviously it is still early days for us but he has done very well for us so far."