Albion boss Roberto Di Matteo reckons his team’s battling away-day wins have put smiles back on faces at the Hawthorns after relegation from the Premier League last season.

The Baggies head coach believes the steely victories at Nottingham Forest and Peterborough have given him a head-start in his bid to bring a ‘winning mentality’ back to the club.

Albion won just once away in the Premier League last season but have collected six points from their first two matches on the road in the Championship as well as beating Bury away in the Carling Cup.

Di Matteo said: “Let’s put them into perspective. We won away against a League Two club and we won two tough games in the league at Forest and Peterborough.

“But we have talked about getting a winning mentality back and you can see the players, when they come away from these games, thinking ‘wow, we were able to hang on to a 3-2 for the last 25 minutes’.

“The fact you can ride out the storm and bring the points home having been under pressure at Forest and at Peterborough is good.

“You can see in the players faces how happy and how pleased they were with that and that’s where the belief and confidence comes from to be able to win games.

“We just have to slowly build on those wins and that’s how we will get the winning mentality back.

“I am pleased with the decent start we have had.”

New signing Jerome Thomas played a part as a substitute in the victory at Peterborough.

And the winger believes away form will be crucial if the Baggies are to return to the Premier League.

“Away wins are what makes a difference between whether you go up or not, quite simply,” said Thomas.

“You need to be able to win on the road, wherever you’re going, and Peterborough is a prime example of that.

“We looked comfortable in the first half but the game changed and we had to adapt.

“The lads did well and we shut up shop and came away with the three points.

“We never want to scrap. We could have been 5-0 up but they got back in the game and it turned into a scrap.”