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Half an hour at Hillsborough was all it took for Albion’s fans to encapsulate their team’s situation in song.

“We’re just too good for you” they roared with relish from the top tier of the West Stand. And they knew they were right.

Playing like this, Albion are too good for the likes of Sheffield Wednesday. In fact, for most of the Championship.

They will be celebrating in May if they maintain the form that has propelled them six points and more clear of some strong teams during a goal-laden November.

That is an ‘if’ that should not be taken lightly. Roberto Di Matteo’s men are as susceptible to an off-day as the rest of the division, as their sticky end to September proved beyond doubt.

Yet they and we now know, as advent draws near, that the fate of their season is almost entirely in their own hands. Given a fair wind with fitness, the biggest obstacle between the Baggies and the Premier League is themselves.

Because if Di Matteo’s reshaped side perform at maximum output, few teams at this level – perhaps only Newcastle – can live with them.

They required top gear for little more than 20 minutes in South Yorkshire to see off a Sheffield Wednesday side whose powers of resistance were more tin foil than the steel that put their home city on the modern map.

The Owls were truly dreadful as they extended their own winless run to six matches to apply some unwanted pressure to their likable manager, Brian Laws.

Had the Baggies matched the attacking standards they managed to thrash Watford and Bristol City and to put an in-form Leicester in their place, they might have racked up a scoreline of Tottenham versus Wigan proportions.

But, frankly, they did not need to. A brief but exhilarating spell of brilliance was more than enough to break the resistance of a home side whose early show of confidence was exposed as phoney from the moment Simon Cox fired the visitors ahead.

Three nil up at half-time, Albion rarely stepped out of second gear after the break. But cruise control was more than sufficient as Laws’ men simple waited to be put out of their misery.

The worrying slip-ups against Crystal Palace, Barnsley and Swansea now seem like matches from a different season – such is the aura Albion have developed in subsequent weeks.

Yet the memory of those defeats could still be Di Matteo’s chief psychological weapon in the crucial months ahead, as the head coach looks to keep his players’ focus fixed on the season’s ultimate aim.

The complacency they displayed in the wake of their 5-0 cake-walk at Middlesbrough will be their biggest enemy for the remainder of the season.

But, such has been the response to the recent 5-0 thrashing of Watford, it seems the young Baggies squad have learned the lessons September and October taught them. The pain of those defeats was felt keenly. It appears Albion are one bitten, twice shy.

Contrast the back-to-back defeats that followed the astonishing Boro success with the three more wins that have come since Watford were put to the sword, and it is clear the Baggies are learning fast.

Their boss made a point of grinning as delivered his post-match thoughts. And well he might. Di Matteo stressed last week he has no ‘magic stick’, but the Italian has possessed the magic touch for the past few weeks.

The decision to recall Abdoulaye Meite at Preston looks as inspired now as it was risky at the time. The introduction of Cox, albeit somewhat enforced, has provided the Baggies with an added ruthlessness in front of goal in their last four outings.

Di Matteo even proved prophetic on Saturday, having highlighted the Owls’ Jekyll and Hyde personality in his pre-match interviews. It was the lousy Wednesday that turned up, making life a good deal easier than it might have been for the Baggies.

But the visitors still had to make their hosts pay for a truly dismal first-half showing that had some home fans heading for the exits before half-time. Eventually, Albion handed administered merciless punishment.

It took a while as both sides stuttered to begin with, but Luke Moore had already drawn a smart save from Lee Grant before Cox found a pocket of space six yards out to sweep home Graham Dorrans’ corner on 23 minutes.

Wednesday began to wilt immediately, so once Chris Brunt had galloped down the left and crossed for the unmarked Cox to make it 2-0 on the half-hour, the home side crumbled entirely.

Only a swing and a miss from the unmarked Moore from Gianni Zuiverloon’s cross – a genuine ‘sitter’ – and a bizarre non-penalty award when Cox was tugged down by Tommy Spurr delayed further punishment for the Owls.

But it came before the interval, when the home defence stood as watched Jerome Thomas exchanged passes with Cox, cut into the box and curled home the simplest of shots.

Wednesday were paralysed by their plight, their supporters were incandescent and the second half was rendered largely irrelevant. So it was little surprised that the game died quickly as a contest with Cox’s hunt for a hat-trick the only live issue remaining.

He twice went close, curling a shot just wide and firing another just over, before making way for debutant George Thorne – the 16-year-old’s dream appearance another bonus made possible by the first-half rampage.

There were five minutes remaining when another teenage substitute, Chris Wood, galloped down the left and switched play for Brunt to side-foot home from 12 yards to complete the scoring.

Brunt refused to celebrate the goal in a dignified and much-appreciated show of respect for his former employers. While he kept his emotions in check, there was no need for such niceties behind the goal, where the travelling contingent took one last chance to taunt their victims.

They reprised their newest ditty and acclaimed their latest set of heroes.

“We’re just to good for you.” It could become an anthem for a season – provided their team continue to call the tune.

By Steve Madeley

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