West Brom display a new-found unity - analysis and pictures

[gallery]Isn't it just typical? In football, the brightest moments so often come in the darkest times.

And so it proved for Pepe Mel as the best performance and most important result of his troubled Albion reign came with his team at their lowest ebb.

What the long-term future holds for this likable Spaniard remains the most thorny question for an inevitably turbulent summer at The Hawthorns.

But for now, Mel can finally bask in the glory of a convincing victory and one that gave the Baggies and their supporters fresh hope that this most horrific of seasons can end in relief instead of despair.

Just what went on behind the locked doors of Albion's training ground in the days after that heartbreaking finale against Cardiff and the dressing-room clash that followed, only Mel, his players and staff will know.

And whether the united front they displayed so deliberately at Carrow Road represented a genuine breakthrough or a show for the cameras is an issue Jeremy Peace will need to consider when the campaign reaches its conclusion. But, for the time being, it does not matter.

Somehow, the beleaguered Baggies came together in Norwich – players, management and 2,500 travelling fans – and the result was a day that lifted the mood of a club that has spent most of the season mired in acrimony and controversy.

For the first time in his 11 games in charge, Mel saw his team dominate a match throughout and claim the three points they so richly deserved.

And the Baggies did it by ripping a page straight from the Roy Hodgson playbook.

There was precious little evidence of the high-pressing, high-risk football that the former Real Betis man espoused when he walked into The Hawthorns.

Instead there was an industrious, intelligent and, above all, organised display from a team that just seven days earlier had looked ragged and ill-disciplined as they twice failed to cash in on winning positions against The Bluebirds.

Yes, they pressurised the Canaries and refused to let them play with a level of aggression and purpose they have failed to show over 90 minutes for several months.

But they did it from the platform of shape, structure and discipline that Hodgson worked so hard to implement and that Steve Clarke attempted, with mixed success, to build on.

Perhaps Mel has been persuaded by the impassioned case of the senior players that it was the only recipe for success with the current squad and tinkered with his own gameplan.

Maybe the Spaniard took a back seat and allowed Keith Downing and Dean Kiely a greater role in organising the team along more pragmatic lines.

Or maybe his players simply took the onus on themselves and ensured they were harder to break down.

In any case, it worked, and that was really all that mattered for Mel and troops.

And if the Spaniard copped his share of the flak for the previous, painful results on his watch, it is only fair he should take a large slice of the glory on a day when his undoubted connection with the Baggies fans was strengthened still further.

The Baggies' second pre-match huddle in as many matches was the first clear demonstration that they were determined to refute the feeling that Saido Berahino's clash with James Morrison was proof of the dressing-room rifts so graphically suggested by Peter Odemwingie in a Saturday morning newspaper.

By the final whistle, Morrison and Berahino were embracing in celebration of victory as match-winner Morgan Amalfitano dropped to the ground in front of the travelling fans, Ben Foster leapt on man-of-the-match Jonas Olsson and Mel hugged Liam Ridgewell after arguably the defender's best display in Albion colours.

And in between the statement of intent and the victory celebrations came a performance that reminded everyone just what this Baggies squad is capable of.

They survived early scares when Foster tidied up a poor Gareth McAuley back pass and Johan Elmander blazed a fine Norwich chance over the bar.

But on 16 minutes it was Amalfitano who struck what would turn out to be the decisive blow. He collected a Youssouf Mulumbu pass and directed a low shot past John Ruddy from the edge of the area to complete a fine, sweeping Baggies move.

Both sides had further chances before half-time with Matej Vydra failing to beat Ruddy after a pacy counter-attack and Foster saving superbly from an Elmander header.

After the break Gary Hooper struck Foster's crossbar but, despite lots of Canaries possession, the Baggies displayed a level of composure and defensive certainty that has been lacking for so long.

The players' on-field celebrations were mirrored by chairman Jeremy Peace, whose rare show of outright emotion was a reminder of just how vital survival is to the Baggies' business model.

When the season is over, Peace will have some serious decisions to make about where the club go next.

What changes are needed to avoid a repeat of last summer's disastrous transfer dealings? What type of players can the Baggies recruit to reshape a squad that has looked tired and in need of a fresh direction for more than a year? And is Mel still the man to oversee the major overhaul that is undoubtedly required?

For now, though, all that matters is making sure those big calls can be made as a Premier League club.

And in one of their lowest moments, Albion delivered one of the season's greatest highs to increase the prospects of Peace getting his wish.