West Brom’s players have finally shown this essential quality - and Carlos Corberan agrees

Saturday’s win over Stoke City came as much surprise for West Bromwich Albion supporters as they registered their first away victory since January 14. It also provided even more of a shock as Carlos Corberan’s side came from a losing position to win for just the third time in his reign.

The Baggies went a goal down half an hour into the game, as forward Jacob Brown headed into the bottom corner after being left unmarked at the back post. It was predictable and in some width of synchronicity, Albion’s players’ heads went down in defeat without even reaching half-time.

It’s fair to say the Baggies’ mentality has been questioned in recent weeks, especially over the Easter weekend when they suffered a disappointing duo of results against relegation candidates Rotherham United and QPR, leaving them in a near-unrecoverable situation. It led Jed Wallace to provide this stark assessment of their situation when speaking to BBC WM.

“It’s an easy excuse to say we’re missing five or six big players but that’s football. It’s made a dent in where we want to get to, for lack of a better saying we’ve bottled it as a group of players we haven’t done enough to win the two games,” Wallace said.

However, the winger was keen to point out that there are no issues with the mindset in the Baggies’ dressing room. “It’s not a mentality issue, a lot of the dressing room has been promoted from this level at the club so they’ve done it before,” Wallace continued.

Yet as they trudged off the field at the halfway stage they were spurred on by a roar from a sold-out away end – something which eventual hero Jayson Molumby thinks helped them enormously. “I thought the fans were brilliant, at half-time, we’re going in 1-0 down and they were cheering us in - they were up for it,” Molumby said.

This, along with whatever Corberan said to them in the dressing room - proved to be a turning point. After half-time, Albion had Stoke rocked - particularly with long balls in behind the defence - and Alex Neil’s side struggled to block out the threat of the rejuvenated visitors.

Despite Daryl Dike’s injury - which meant he was withdrawn from the field in tears whilst being consoled by his teammates - the Baggies cracked on in spite of another injury blow. Karlan Grant replaced him and caused an immediate impact, racing into the penalty area and forcing goalkeeper Jack Bonham into a sprawling save.

The resulting corner came in, with Brandon Thomas-Asante spearing an effort onto the crossbar, only to meet the head of the onrushing Molumby who nodded the ball upwards and into the net. The celebrations that followed were rampant, with the Irishman clasping the crest on his shirt in front of the away supporters.

Once again it was a moment between players and fans that jump-started them into action, with Molumby again causing pandemonium in the Bet365 Stadium away end. The midfielder had to take a painkilling injection in order to start the game after struggling with a groin injury that kept him out of the Millwall and Rotherham games, but you would never have known.

Molumby scored again just 10 minutes after his first, this time Grant had a hand in the goal as his header crashed off the bar and again into the path of the midfielder who scrambled the ball just over the line. It was atypical of the Irishman to fight through a situation of adversity to thrust himself into a winning position, a trait that Corberan believes has helped him recover from his ailment.

“He had the personality to play and when you have a player like this the value they can give you is huge. The commitment that he has with himself, with the club, with the team, he was playing today with a lot of pain in the ankle,” Corberan said.

The Baggies managed to hold on to earn themselves a vital three points in turn - a huge leg up into the play-off mix. They now sit within a win of the top six, but most importantly, they appear to have their fight back.

“I think without the character the players put on the pitch today, it would’ve been impossible to achieve what we did. When we start losing in games, it always makes it more difficult to get a positive result,” Corberan told WBATV.

“But the spirit, braveness and determination the players showed on the pitch was very important and it’s a great three points. Today, the goals we scored were from the heart of the players, we did not score with the foot, we scored with the strength, the desire and the mentality.

“These are values which are very important to have. I was really pleased to see that the team was competitive and the work that they were doing today, there was a reward for that,” Corberan continued.

With five games left to play, anything really could happen in the Championship playoff race, but rest assured if Albion show the grit and determination that they did for those 45 minutes against Stoke, they’ll stand themselves in good stead. They’ve given themselves a fighting chance in this almighty battle.