Of all teams, West Bromwich Albion should be able to retain hope. They are, after all, the only side in the history of the Premier League to be bottom at Christmas and survive. Yet optimism was in short supply at The Hawthorns yesterday, when Tony Mowbray’s team let slip a lead in this most winnable of games.

Portsmouth, wearied by the travelling either side of their Uefa Cup defeat by Wolfsburg in midweek, were there for the taking and Jonathan Greening’s first goal in 15 months was no more than the bottom team deserved. Yet West Brom contrived to allow Portsmouth back into the contest and, after Peter Crouch crashed in a spectacular equaliser, the visiting team were the more likely winners, Glen Johnson shooting over late on.

“I enjoyed the first half more than the second,” Mowbray, whose team have taken two points out of the past 27, said. “I think it was our inability to get a second goal when we were on top that cost us. You could feel the quality that they [Portsmouth] possess, especially in the final third.”

To add to Albion’s woes, Ishmael Miller was taken to hospital after colliding with David James, the Portsmouth goalkeeper, and is likely to be out for at least six weeks with medial knee ligament damage.

James Morrison and Chris Brunt had already run clean through only to shoot wide when West Brom took the lead. Sol Campbell was harshly adjudged to have fouled Miller for the free kick that Brunt cracked against the crossbar. Greening, one of the survivors from the team who avoided relegation to the Coca-Cola Championship by beating Portsmouth on the final day of the 2004-05 season, halfvolleyed the rebound into the net before the Portsmouth defenders could react.

Portsmouth equalised when Crouch’s shot took a slight deflection off Abdoulaye Meïté and flew in off the crossbar for the England striker’s ninth goal of the season.

West Bromwich Albion (4-4-1-1): S Carson 5 — G Zuiverloon 5, A Meïté 5, J Olsson 6, P Robinson 5 — J Morrison 6, R Koren 6, B Valero 6 (sub: R Bednar, 67min, 5), C Brunt 6 — J Greening 6 — I Miller 6 (sub: L Moore, 77). Substitutes not used: D Kiely, M Cech, L Barnett, Kim Do Heon, F Teixeira. Booked: Olsson.

Portsmouth (4-4-2): D James 6 — G Johnson 7, S Campbell 6, S Distin 6, N Pamarot 5 — N Kranjcar 5, S Davis 5, P Bouba Diop 5, N Belhadj 4 (sub: G Little, 46 5) — J Defoe 5, P Crouch 6 (sub: Kanu, 90). Substitutes not used: J Ashdown, H Hreidarsson, D Nugent, M Wilson, A Mvuemba. Booked: Diop, Johnson.

Referee: M Dean Attendance: 24,964