West Bromwich Albion's Chris Brunt skips past challenge from Peterborough United's Exodus Geohaghon

The Hawthorns waved goodbye to the Noughties with a taste of things to come in 2010.

If Albion are to turn an encouraging autumn into a glorious winter and spring, patience truly will be a virtue in B71.

Roberto Di Matteo lost his cool at half-time on Boxing Day. And the Italian was not alone in the Baggies’ biggest home crowd of the season.

But players, coaches and fans alike just about kept their composure and just about got their rewards.

The test of nerve that Peterborough set was precisely what Di Matteo had predicted as his team geared up for Christmas action.

And the Albion head coach is rightly expecting more of the same on home soil as 2009 draws to a close and his players hit the second bend of his first season at the helm.

Such is the reputation the Baggies created early in the season that a blueprint for frustration at The Hawthorns is now circulating around the Championship.

Mark Cooper’s Posh adopted several of its theories despite some moments of attacking promise at the weekend.

And the likes of Scunthorpe, Derby, Blackpool and Coventry – all due in town before the end of March – will doubtless be studying hard already.

With 42 points already in the bag, Albion’s season might well ultimately be rewarding. But it might not always be fun.

Things would doubtless be easier if Albion could rediscover their top form.

They were well below par on Saturday. In truth, they have been for precisely a month, since Sheffield Wednesday were blown away in a cake walk at Hillsborough.

Yet even in stronger periods of the season, Di Matteo’s men have found the going tough on their own patch.

Only Watford and Bristol City have been swept aside at The Hawthorns. The other five beaten sides left the ground having given their hosts something of a fright.

The final home game of this decade offered little evidence that things are about to change in the opening months of the next.

That means Albion can expect one or two repeats of the surprising boos that greeted the half-time whistle on Saturday from a fanbase traditionally proud of its reasoned support.

But Di Matteo and Co would hope for a measure of tolerance as they look to navigate some choppier waters having cruised apace through the relative millpond of November.

Once more against a struggling Peterborough side they laboured for the inspiration required to break through some spirited resistance.

And for 45 minutes it appeared another afternoon of ultimate frustration lay in store as Di Matteo’s men fluffed their lines in the kind of fixture in which victory is essential for sides with genuine top-two aspirations.

They enjoyed clear advantages in possession and territory, but time and again the Baggies machine broke down at crucial moments with key passes missing their targets and attempted shots going astray.

There were moments of real promise, most regularly when the dangerous Jerome Thomas had the ball at his feet against makeshift right-back Gabriel Zakuani.

Yet Thomas’s first-half performance epitomised Albion – full of possibility but sadly lacking in productivity.

In the opening moments Thomas tied Zakuani in knots and aimed to pick out Luke Moore at the far post.

But the wayward cross that drifted behind for a goal kick was typical of what was to follow for the next 40 minutes.

Thomas again threatened when he collected a half-clearance from a Chris Brunt corner on the edge of the Posh box, only for his mis-hit shot to ricochet wide.

And he dragged a low shot well off target after cutting in off the flank and leaving Zakuani for dead.

In between times, however, there was a clear opening on the break for the visitors with the dangerous George Boyd, who did well in a disciplined wide midfield role, bursting down the left.

He got the better of Gianni Zuiverloon and crossed to the near post, where Craig Mackail-Smith had escaped the attentions of Abdoulaye Meite.

But the clever Posh forward failed in the final task of diverting the cross into the net.

A snap-shot from Moore was well held by Joe Lewis in the visitors’ goal before another attempt at goal from Thomas presented Zuiverloon with Albion’s best chance of the half.

Thomas’s shot hit a defender and ballooned towards Zuiverloon at the far post but his shot was high and handsome.

The displeasure expressed at the half-time whistle was, we now know, matched by the raised voices in the Baggies dressing room.

And the full and frank exchange did the trick. The beginning of the second half did not bring vintage Albion, but it did bring a clear improvement.

Moore could have scored when Thomas burst to the byline and crossed a fraction behind him, Meite should have scored when he met Chris Brunt’s inswinging corner but nodded over the bar.

But Moore did score on 61 minutes, thanks in no small part to a positive run through the centre from the otherwise subdued Graham Dorrans.

The Scot kept his head on the edge of the box to slide the ball through to Moore’s whose shot on the turn went in despite a decent attempt at a save from Lewis.

And the game was up for Posh six minutes later when a mis-hit Moore shot looped towards goal, Dorrans pressurised Ryan Bennett and the visiting defender headed into his own net.

There were further chances for substitutes Chris Wood and Filipe Teixeira, with the young New Zealander firing just wide and the lively Portuguese failing narrowly to connect with a right-wing cross.

The visitors rallied briefly with Dean Kiely finally forced into action twice in the closing six minutes, pulling off a fine save to deny Shaun Batt and a smart flying block to frustrate Chris Whelpdale.

But in truth there had been little doubt about the result from the moment Moore finally broke Posh’s stubborn rearguard.

Patience, persistence and perseverance had finally reaped rewards for the Baggies. And the three Ps will be vital again in the months to come.

By Steve Madeley