MICHAEL Appleton is hoping Albion's renewed patience at The Hawthorns will get the better of a 'spirited' Scunthorpe side capable of upsetting the form book.

The second-placed Baggies go into the game on the back off three successive wins and a convincing 3-1 victory over promotion rivals Sheffield United last time out on home turf.

But, although 19th-placed Iron have only won three times on their Coca-Cola Championship travels this term, they have thumped Crystal Palace 4-0 at Selhurst Park and Derby 4-1 at Pride Park.

United's last away day saw them beat QPR 1-0 at Loftus Road and Appleton admits they can be a potent attacking force on their day.

"Scunny have a fantastic team spirit," said Albion's first-team coach.

"They've got some decent players as well.

"They always produce front players.

"Over the last three or four years they've had front players who have gone on to play for bigger clubs.

"They're a side that at home are very difficult to beat.

"Away from home they've had some fantastic results as well.

"Just a few weeks back they turned Derby over on their own patch, so it's something we need to be aware of.

"I think what has helped us over the last four or five weeks is a change of formation.

"At home we probably got a bit impatient at times when we were playing 4-4-2 and tried to get the ball forward a little bit too quickly.

"I think now what you see is a little bit more patience from us.

"We know we have to use our midfield players because we've got five in there and all of a sudden I think it's brought a different dimension to our play because we have midfielders making late runs into our box, and opposite midfielders getting into the box.

"I think the slight change in formation helped us and all of a sudden we have an injection of pace, an injection of energy."

Appleton has been impressed by the way the players have responded to a disappointing 3-1 home defeat by Nottingham Forest to string together a six-game unbeaten run in all competitions and reclaim second spot in the table from Billy Davies' men.

"When you lose a game as we did to Forest, a lot of people get hurt," he added.

"Was it the fantastic performance at Newcastle or the defeat to Forest that turned it around?

"Probably a mixture of both.

"Nobody likes to lose on their own patch to one of their biggest rivals.

"But then we had ten days to prepare for Newcastle and take stock.

"We asked where are we? Where do we want to be? And we had some good training in that period and have gone six unbeaten."