Ryan Mason felt 'suffering' West Brom were deserving and makes killer instinct point about second half in Norwich

The Baggies came away from Carrow Road with a 1-0 victory on a night where, in the words of the Baggies boss, they were made to suffer by Liam Manning's hosts, who are still yet to collect a home point.

Albion goalkeeper Josh Griffiths was the hero and clear man of the match after a string of saves - including two late stunners in the final 10 minutes - as the Canaries pushed to strike back from the returning Josh Maja's 20th-minute strike, which eventually proved the match-winner.

Mason's men created precious little in the second half, bar a stoppage-time effort from substitute Aune Heggebo, as Norwich penned them in. The Baggies boss talked up the home side, who delivered by some way their best performance of the season despite the chorus of jeers and "sacked in the morning" taunts that came from the City fans at full-time.

"They are a good side," Mason said in summary. "I thought we had some spells in the second half where we had a little bit of control, but I don't think we probably had enough killer instinct to go and get the second.

"Sometimes that happens in games, they had long spells with the ball at times and we suffered, we had to suffer. Sometimes that's normal in football.

"And then obviously my changes as well. We changed the system, we went to a back five which helped us a little bit, but that can dictate the rhythm of the game and it certainly did.

"It's part of the game, part of coming away from home in a midweek game, and they played a good match. They're probably one of the better teams we've played this season in terms of across the 95 minutes. We had to suffer a lot and it feels good to come away with three points."

Mason this week called for his squad to be "killers" when looking to put teams to the sword and games to bed. That did not come to fruition in Norfolk, but the Baggies emerged victorious.

Albion's starting attacking quartet looked lively and a decent unit for periods of the first half as their movement troubled Norwich. Villa loanee Sammy Iling-Junior built on the goal in his full debut with a central role in Maja's goal on the latter's first start in 10 months.

Maja started a move in feeding Iling-Junior on the right and the winger beat his defender before a cross eventually fell the way of Maja, who was clinical.

The visitors struggled to get going after the interval. Mason turned to Jed Wallace and Heggebo on the hour in a partly pre-planned switch to withdraw Maja. Left-back Charlie Taylor pulled up with some muscle fatigue in his second appearance for the Baggies, leading to a debut for summer signing Krystian Bielik and one of midfielder Toby Collyer's liveliest Albion cameos to date.

Full-back Alfie Gilchrist also emerged for a debut cameo in the closing stages as Mason utilised his squad - something likely to be seen in Millwall on Saturday too - after the head coach had switched to a back five. Albion's backline were certainly tested in the closing stages as Griffiths stood strong.

"It's a really big three points for us," the head coach added. "We certainly felt they're a good side. We scored the goal in the first half, which is pleasing for Josh to come back in and see the ball hit the back of the net.

"We had to suffer a lot. Josh (Griffiths) produced some moments at the end, which is really important for us. Sometimes in football you need that, your keeper to pull off a save, have a big moment and he had a couple tonight.

"The work, the togetherness we showed was important as well to get over the line and keep a clean sheet.

"To be honest, we deserve that type of result off the back of that type of performance because we've been on the wrong end of results when we've played really well at times this season."