Roberto Di Matteo hailed his players after they completed four consecutive victories inside eleven days. The Baggies edged a five goal thriller at The Hawthorns against Preston North End to cement their spot in the automatic promotion places.
Two quick fire goals from Chris Brunt and Ben Watson gave Albion a dream start inside ten minutes. Shaun St Ledger pulled one back for the visitors from a corner in the 15th minute before Graham Dorrans’ stunning free-kick extended Albion’s two goal lead. Neil Mellor beat Albion’s offside trap two minutes before half-time to set up a nervy second half.
After the break Ben Watson and Ishmael Miller both went close for the hosts before a nervy finish for the Baggies as Preston pushed forward for an equaliser. However second placed Albion managed to hold on for a fourth straight victory.
“We're delighted to have got maximum points from our four games in 11 days," the Italian said.
"You can see how demanding it is on the players.
"They can't keep the same tempo going for 90 minutes. Sometimes, people don't understand that.
"We need to do well in our home games so they were an important three points today.
"We are very pleased to have won.
"We made a very good, strong start and scored twice.
"I was very pleased with that because we looked in control.
"You need to give respect to the opposition and they tried hard to get back into the game.
"But I was very disappointed with the two goals we conceded.
"Those are mistakes we shouldn't make.
"Thankfully, we don't make them too often."