Albion defender Jonas Olsson admitted he went from zero to hero by firing the Baggies in front against Sunderland.

The big Swede grabbed the opening goal just six days after

he had conceded the penalty that handed Manchester City a 3-2 lead in Albion’s defeat at Eastlands.

Olsson said: “It was nice to bounce back after last week, especially for me.

“It was nice to redeem myself after killing us last week at

Manchester City with the penalty.

“It was nice to put one in the net.”

Yet Olsson said helping Albion’s much-criticised defence claim a rare clean sheet was more special than grabbing his third goal of the season.

“It is always nice to score and there is no greater feeling on the football pitch,” said Olsson.

“But there has been a lot of

criticism for the defence during the season and I can see why, because we have conceded a lot of goals.

“So it was nice to get the clean sheet.

“You can’t close your eyes to reality. We concede a lot of goals so I think it’s fair criticism.

“But it’s not only about the back four. You defend as a team and attack as a team with all 11 players.”

Olsson refused to concede defeat in Albion’s battle to stay in the Premier League but admitted missed chances in recent away matches could cost them dearly.

He said: “We are six points behind and there are still four games to go. That is what we’re going to focus on.

“Of course we would want to be a little bit closer but we aren’t, so we will just have to try to make it up in the last four games.

“We have played well in the last three away games at West Ham, Portsmouth and Manchester City and we’ve got two points from them.

“In all of them we played really well but last week silly mistakes, including one of mine, cost us the game and against West Ham and Portsmouth we had a few chances to put the games away.

“It has been really frustrating playing really well away and only getting two points.”

Olsson was full of praise for the Baggies fans, who offered the team stirring support.

He said: “The atmosphere and fans here are just great. Even though we’re bottom of the league the fans get behind the manager and players and hats off to them.

“That’s how support should really be because that is when you really need the fans.

“When things are going well it’s easy to play. But when times are tough that’s when you need your supporters to get behind you and they were magnificent.

“When I played in Sweden and Holland they were pretty quick to turn against us but here they are just amazing and it’s great to play here.”