Winger Jerome Thomas has revealed how a week of soul-searching helped Albion bounce back from the Nottingham Forest nightmare.

The Baggies recovered from their 3-1 home defeat to Forest to outplay leaders Newcastle and emerge with a 2-2 draw on Monday.

And Thomas says the whole Hawthorns squad, led by head coach Roberto Di Matteo, had to dig deep to recover from their no-show against Billy Davies’s side.

“It was a case of everyone looking at themselves, including the gaffer,” said Thomas.

“He has to take responsibility for the team he puts out and those players have to take responsibility for the performance they put in.

“Those 10 days were time for people reflect, look at themselves and be ready for the Monday game.

“It goes unnoticed that this is a step up for the manager and some of the players. They are learning as they go along – it’s a learning curve for all of us.”

The Baggies have retained their place in the top three of the Championship for most of the season an Thomas believes the squad’s ‘surprise package’ stars have been key to the success.

Several players have risen to prominence during the course of the season, most notably Scotland international Graham Dorrans.

And Thomas revealed: “I hadn’t heard of Mozza when I joined but you can see what he brings to the table.

“He can score goals and set them up. It’s a young team and he, like Chris Wood, is still learning.

“It’s their first season but they’ve done very well.

“We have a young squad, and then the foreign players have done well too.

“Gabi Tamas was thrown in against Forest, for our biggest game of the season, then he did well against Newcastle.

“Gonzalo came in at the start of the season and has done well. He’s played centre-back, central midfield and right-back and he’s done well everywhere.

“And then we can call on people like Youssouf Mulumbu , Robert Koren and Roman Bednar.

“I think Roman’s got five goals now so he’s doing well too.

“That shows the unity we have. There are no egos and no-one sulks.

“We have the same goal – to win promotion.”