Albion will soon know whether a fine week has become a dream one.

But they know already that whatever it yields will come at a price.

Roberto Di Matteo deservedly left Home Park on Saturday glowing with pride at the latest show of strength from his side.

But by yesterday morning, the head coach was already preparing for the next assignment and counting the cost of their ferociously-earned six points from a bruising week.

Simon Cox’s fabulous finish in the second-half on the Devon coast vindicated a risky selection gamble by his boss and ensured their five-day travelling assignment ended as an emphatic triumph.

Yet the loss of key creator Jerome Thomas for the next four games, on top of injuries to Marek Cech and Ishmael Miller cast a significant shadow on the brightest of weeks.

Di Matteo would certainly not trade the six points garnered from Blackpool and Plymouth to have the trio available for the next two weeks.

But the Baggies head coach will be painfully aware of the consequences of that haul. In passing two tough tests with flying colours, they have increased the scale of those to follow massively.

It was the moment of indiscipline from Thomas in stoppage time on Saturday that left Di Matteo with his biggest post-match headache.

The winger’s wild lunge at David McNamee landed him with a second red card of the season and an inevitable four-match suspension at a vital time of the season.

While Thomas is not the only match-winner at Di Matteo’s disposal, the former Arsenal trainee has shown himself as the man they find the hardest to replace. Taking up the slack will provide the Baggies with another sizable test.

Thankfully for the Baggies boss, the last two outings have suggested his side are in the mood to rise to whatever challenges the season throws up.

Certainly Saturday’s win was a triumph unlike any previous one for this emerging Albion team. It came with a much-changed team, against opponents who were fresh on a pitch more suited to the Grand National than Championship football.

The dreadful playing surface ensured Albion’s latest away assignment was never likely to turn into a classic spectacle. The clash duly became less a test of technique and imagination and more a gauge of persistence and spirit.

They are qualities that have been called into question concerning Albion teams of recent vintage, but Di Matteo’s class of 2010 displayed them in abundance when they needed to step up to the mark on Saturday.

The strength of will was epitomised by the ever-improving Gabriel Tamas, whose towering display of heading, tackling and blocking at the heart of Di Matteo’s defence snuffed out any threat provided by a Pilgrims team battling for survival.

Tamas’s approach seemed to spread throughout the team as they gave up on their normal style and dug deep into their reserves of steel.

Had they slipped up, their boss would have faced unwanted questioned about his three unenforced changes – there were four in total – from the five previous matches. He will be grateful his players silenced any debate.

Within moments of kick-off it was clear the pitch was playing as badly as it looked, as Cox fell awkwardly trying a simple body swerve and looked fortunate to escape injury.

For a while the Baggies tried to play with some over-elaboration from Youssouf Mulumbu in his own half threatening to gift the hosts with a sight of goal.

But it was soon evident that both sides had abandoned artistry in favour of attrition as the first half became an unappealing non-event.

The first half-hour passed off with almost no incident of note with long-range shot from Albion’s Chris Brunt and a brave block by Tamas from an Alan Judge shot the closest it came to drama.

Thankfully an improvement came shortly before the interval and Roman Bednar had the only genuine chance of the half, collecting an inch-perfect pass from Cox and burst past Gary Sawyer into the box, only to see home goalkeeper David Stockdale pull off a smart low save.

The second-half could not have been worse than the first. Mercifully there were at least some talking points to emerge after the interval.  First came the reckless 52nd-minute tackle from the rusty Joe Mattock on Pilgrims debutant Damien Johnson that sparked a 22-man shoving match and finally provided the occasion with a spark.

Mattock escaped with a yellow card. On another day it might have been worse.

Fourteen minutes later came the decisive goal, as Albion briefly reached into their bag of tricks to carve out at opening. Graham Dorrans’ wonderful crossfield ball found Thomas, his far-post cross was contested by Bednar and Sawyer and the ricochet fell for Cox to lash home a textbook half-volley.

From then Albion had something to protect, but they should have increased their advantage when a tired challenge from McNamee felled substitute Luke Moore in the penalty box.

But Stockdale ensured the tension was maintainedin saving Dorrans’ penalty low to his right, ending the Scot’s fabulous run of recent success from the spot. That tension boiled over as the clock ticked past 90 minutes.

Thomas, angered by a poor challenge on him by Johnson moments earlier, tried to make up for a heavy touch by lunging in on McNamee, missing the ball and catching the defender’s shin.

The subsequent red card was a straightforward decision for referee Steve Tanner, but tempers were frayed and a second unnecessary melee involved coaches and substitutes from both sides.

An ugly scuffle was an unseemly sight. Yet it was a strangely appropriate end to a contest that had long since become 10 per cent sporting contest, 90 per cent scrap.

Nevertheless, the fist-pumping Albion celebrations that greeted the final whistle showed graphically how this combative victory meant more than any of the swaggering successes that had come before.

Di Matteo and Co had avoided their second potential pitfall in a week and sent out another defiant message to their promotion rivals in the process. Two thirds of their week-long mission was complete, with just a simple home test against Scunthorpe to come.

Yet bruises to bodies and pride mean disposing of the Iron suddenly looks a damned sight more tricky.

By Steve Madeley