´óÏó´«Ã½

West Bromwich Albion's first-day hat-trick hero Josh Maja says his religious faith helped him through an injury-hit first year at the Baggies.

Maja put behind a worrying summer of negativity at the financially-challenged Championship club to score all three Albion goals as they came from behind to beat Queens Park Rangers 3-1 in Shepherd's Bush.

Maja had a badly disrupted first season with Albion, in which he scored just once, limited to just one start in 12 appearances by two separate injuries.

But his three strikes at Loftus Road - two headers and a well-taken instinctive hat-trick goal - made him the first Baggies player to hit an opening-day treble in 101 years.

"The challenges I had last season were just typical of the Championship," he told ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio WM. "I just wanted to stay injury-free this season.

"My lord and saviour Jesus Christ has helped me through tough times and this is a real personal boost for me. But it was worth the wait.

"This is a great start and the most important thing is the three points."

London-born Nigeria international Maja had only previously scored one hat-trick in professional football, in his time in France at Bordeaux, against Nimes in December 2019.

But the former Sunderland and Fulham striker was particularly pleased with his second on 51 minutes - a far-post set up by young winger Tom Fellows, after new signing Torbjorn Heggem's similar assist for his equalising first in the 26th minute.

"It's not something I actually do naturally, to get in at the back stick. And I timed it well. But credit to my team-mates for the crosses.

"We work hard on the training pitch to make sure we're in the right place at the right time."

Maja completed his match-winning treble on 65 minutes with a good, almost scissors-kick-style finish after a deflection fell into his path - and that secured three points for last season's beaten Championship play-off semi-finalists.

But Albion's continued off-field concerns, as the club recover from a damaging few years under their previous owners, is not something that has been allowed to filter into the dressing room.

"It's not something we can control," said Maja. "Personally I haven't paid any attention to that.

"All we can do is concentrate on ourselves and do our bit on the pitch.

"Behind closed doors is for them to sort out."

Josh Maja was talking to ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio WM's Steve Hermon