Ryan Mason insists the Baggies will be focused on capitalising on the positivity of securing three points in their most recent match when they travel to Hull City on Saturday (ko 3pm).
Albion claimed a 2-0 triumph over Sheffield United at The Hawthorns last Friday night, meaning they have an opportunity to secure back-to-back second-tier victories for the first time since August this weekend.
The boss accepts they’ve missed a number of chances to build momentum at different stages of the season so far and has challenged his players to use the frustration of their results on the road of late to “fuel” their motivation to return from Humberside with a much more positive outcome.
Mason said: “We’ve been in this position a fair few times this season where we’ve won a game and been in a good moment heading into the next fixture, but then haven’t been able to capitalise on it.
“It’s a new game and a new challenge for us on Saturday. What’s happened in the recent past with away games is something we need to learn from and use it to fuel our motivation to be better.
“We need to go to Hull, play a mature game of football and hopefully pick up a positive result and change this feeling that we’ve got at the moment.
“We’ve tweaked things away from home in recent matches to try and earn better results, whether that be players in the starting XI or the system that we implement, without veering too far away from our principles. Principles remain the same.
“The disappointing thing in the last few games has been individual errors. That’s the thing we need to cut out, because you can assess and analyse the game in a different way if errors disappear.
“If you’re gifting the opposition goals, it’s always going to be difficult. That’s the main focus for us, stopping that. If Hull are going to get anything on Saturday then they have to earn it and not be gifted anything.
“We want to hurt Hull on Saturday. We want to impose ourselves and play our own football and cause them problems. We’ve shown in recent weeks that we can hurt different teams at different times in games. That’s what we’ll be trying to do this weekend once again.
“Hull are a strong side and they’re in a good moment. They’ve won three of their last four, they’re fluid and they’ve got some really good attacking players.
“It’s a challenge, but we know the expectations and the demands of what you need to do to win.”
The boss also provided a fitness update when speaking to members of the media at The Fitlife Foods Performance Centre on Friday morning.
Ryan spoke specifically about midfielders Alex Mowatt and Tammer Bany, as well as young defender Alex Williams.
He said: “We’ve got a couple of players who haven’t been able to train this week for different reasons. We’re hoping they’ll be able to pull through training on Friday.
“That’s the same for Alex Mowatt. He hasn’t trained since before the Southampton game. We’re going to see where we are after training.
“When a player has about ten days without being on the pitch with the group, it’s tough. There is a possibility he’s involved tomorrow, but we just need to see how he pulls through. It’s a pain management thing.
“Tammer Bany has trained over the last few days following his illness, so that’s helpful.
“Alex Williams is progressing. It’ll be nice to have him back in the group when he's ready because he’s someone we value highly and hopefully he can help us.”
