Albion boss Roberto Di Matteo has hailed match-winner Jerome Thomas and admitted the two-goal winger was a big miss during his three-match suspension.

The wide man returned from his ban to score twice in Saturday’s win and the head coach revealed he had seen the performance coming on the training ground.

Di Matteo said: “We’ve seen Jerome in training over the last couple of weeks. He’s looked very sharp and he was dangerous throughout the game and was a threat for us. The two goals were a bonus.

“Before he got his suspension he was coming into fine form so it wasn’t at a good time for us.”

The Italian believes Thomas’s display proved the value of persuading him to drop down to the Championship in the summer.

Di Matteo said: “I knew Jerome as a player. He was training with Wolves but we were looking for a player of that ability. We contacted him and he was quite happy to drop a division to play for us.”

The Baggies boss was pleased with his team’s fightback from 1-0 down and admitted the starring role of Reading goalkeeper Adam Federici was a familiar tale for his side.

He said: “I asked the team for a good performance and 100 per cent commitment. In the long run if you play well and perform then you’ll get results.

“Luckily for us we managed to win. I think after we conceded there was a bit of nervousness. It’s not ideal to concede so early knowing the opposition will sit so deep.

“I don’t know what it is with the Hawthorns but the goalkeepers come here and seem to have the days of their lives. He made about four unbelievable saves during the second half.”

Reading manager Brendan Rodgers was left ruing his side’s individual errors after they saw their early lead come to nothing.

The Royals scored first but a poor backpass from Jobi McAnuff to present Thomas with the equaliser kick-started the comeback.

Rodgers said: “Yet again we started well, our game plan was perfect in how we were going to defend and attack.

“We got in front and you sensed the home crowd just starting to turn, but we never capitalised on that. We gave them hope with a stupid goal, and from that moment we still tried to play but we weren’t good enough, they were better than us.

“Right now I think we just struggle to play under pressure. We had the initiative, went in front and then we’re giving teams opportunities to score. All three goals were from us, we had possession and gave it away.

“From a very good start and looking comfortable it was a very, very disappointing result in the end. When you go behind confidence is not great, but you have to get through it. The fitness and conditioning is good but it’s a mentality thing for us at the moment.

“It was only really in the last two or three minutes of the game that we started to do what we had done early on, which is to get the ball wide and get crosses in.

“It’s a disappointing result after what looked potentially to be a good performance for us.”