Albion make a flying visit home against Scunthorpe with coach Michael Appleton excited by the glint of desire in the players’ eyes.

The former Hawthorns midfielder – a veteran of successful promotion campaigns – believes the Baggies players are in a mood to push for home in the race for the Premier League.

Roberto Di Matteo’s first team coach is in buoyant mood ahead of tonight’s meeting with the Iron – a rare home mission in the midst of six away day assignments.

The Baggies will take on Nigel Adkins’ side on the back of a six-match unbeaten run and three straight victories.

After overcoming a tricky start to 2010, Appleton believes the team are relishing the latest stop in their promotion-chasing journey.

He said: “The lads are looking forward to games at the minute and they’ve got a look in their eye, which is encouraging. It helps us that this game is at home, because we’ve got another two or three weeks of being on the road with three games.

“The lads have got a look in their eye at the moment, because they are six games unbeaten.

“There might be a bit of a cost with injuries and people might be looking at us to slip up, but the lads are looking focussed.”

Albion’s six-match unbeaten run stretches back to their draw at leaders Newcastle, which came in the wake of the dismal home defeat to Nottingham Forest that saw the clubs swap places in the table.

But the Baggies have since reclaimed second place from Billy Davies’s side and Appleton is full of praise for their efforts in recent weeks.

He said: “I think the change in formation over the last few weeks, having five in the middle of the park, has helped us a bit because we’ve got some quality players in the middle.

“At home we probably got a bit impatient at times when we were playing 4-4-2 and tried to get the ball forward a little bit too quickly. I think now what people see is a little bit more patience from us.

“We know we have to use our midfield players because we’ve got five in there and all of a sudden I think it’s brought a different dimension to our play, because we have midfielders making late runs into the box.

“When you lose a game as we did to Forest, a lot of people get hurt. Was it the fantastic performance against Newcastle or the defeat to Forest that got us going?

“It was probably a mixture of both. Nobody likes to lose on their own patch to one of their biggest rivals. But then we had 10 days to prepare for Newcastle and take stock.

“We had to ask ‘where are we?’ and ‘where do we want to be?’ We had some good training in that period and since then we have gone six games unbeaten.”

The post-Forest spell has also seen the Baggies pick up two impressive home victories to ease concerns over their nervous home form.

But Appleton has played down any lingering concerns over their difficulties on home soil.

The coach said: “We try to distract players from that. We go into games preparing the same way and doing the same things, because we’ve got talented players.

“People can get carried away with things like form. I think the slight change in formation helped us and all of a sudden we had an injection of pace and energy.

“It’s important the coaching staff try to distract any comments about home form. We need to keep their minds on football and get them to do what they do best, which is perform.

“Scunthorpe have a fantastic team spirit and they’ve got some decent players as well. They always produce front players. Over the last three or four years they’ve had front players who have gone on to play for bigger clubs.

“They’re a side that at home are very difficult to beat. Away from home they’ve had some fantastic results as well.

“Just a few weeks back they turned Derby over on their own patch, so it’s something we need to be aware of.”

The Baggies’ squad for tonight will feature a new face after West Ham teenager Frank Nouble signed on an initial one-month loan.

But the 18-year-old looks set to take his place among the substitutes, with Roman Bednar in good form at the head of the Baggies team.

Albion look set to hand a first start to deadline day signing Andy Slory in place of the suspended Jerome Thomas, who faces a four-match ban for his high challenge on David McNamee at Plymouth on Saturday.

But midfielder James Morrison is still not fit to make his return after nine months out with a heel problem.

Appleton said: “We’ve got to be patient with ‘Mozza.’ He has been out for so long that we don’t want to put any expectations on the boy. We would rather him come back into a healthier situation with bodies around the place and from my point of view he is a fantastic player.

“Everybody saw what he did last season in the Premier League and we are desperate to see him back but if we start rushing the boy back, that’s when you start having problems.

“Patience is the key with him.”