Ryan Mason believes Albion’s performance in their final pre-season fixture against Rayo Vallecano was “excellent”.
The Baggies came from a goal down to beat the La Liga outfit 3-2 at The Hawthorns on Saturday afternoon.
All five goals arrived in the last 20 minutes of the match, with Jayson Molumby, Karlan Grant and Isaac Price all finding the net in front of the Brummie Road End for the hosts.
Mason said the players put in plenty of “energy and effort” and were fully deserving of a morale-boosting victory seven days before the start of the Sky Bet Championship campaign.
The boss said: “I thought the performance was excellent today.
“It was a really good test. Rayo Vallecano are a very good footballing team and we struggled in the first 20 minutes to lay any sort of contact on them. Like I say, they’re a good side and we had to suffer.
“We came through it together and grew into the game. We had some really good opportunities from pressing moments, high-press regains.
“I thought we were well-deserving of the win in the end in terms of goal-mouth action and chances created. I’m pleased for the boys because they put a lot of effort in and they deserved to win.
“The first goal of the game is really unfortunate from our side, but then I thought we actually scored some really good goals. We had some really good moments. I’m disappointed with their second because it’s an absolute worldie and there’s not much you can do about it.
“We were good value for the win today. The boys put a lot of energy and effort into it. That’s really pleasing going into next week.
“You’re always building towards something and it might take a little bit of time for the end product to get to the place where we really want it to look. However, today was good and it was pleasing. There’s no doubting that.
“We have to remember this feeling and understand why we were able to be successful today. We know we still have a lot of work to do, but when you win games, you always get a good feeling.
“We have to believe in ourselves, regardless of who we play against. Rayo pose different threats to some of the teams we’ll come up against in the Championship this season, but it’s all part of understanding that when you have to suffer, you have to do it together.
“I thought we showed a real desire to work for each other today and, ultimately, we’ve got the rewards. It was a really good performance and a positive result.”
