'Things are right to stay indoors' - West Brom boss doubles down on decision to leave out Josh Griffiths

Griffiths has made errors but also performed well at times to help Albion win points, something Mason acknowledged.

His replacement Joe Wildsmith made a rick for QPR's third goal as the Baggies were beaten 3-1, which was followed with a 3-2 reverse at Southampton in a poor few days.

"I think he's growing," Mason told the Express & Star when asked about Griffiths' response to being benched.

"It's probably not an ideal situation to be in, from my point of view, from anyone's point of view - but I believe it's the right thing, I know it was the right thing.

"There's a lot of things that happen sometimes that are right to stay indoors.

"It was the right time. It was the right moment, in my opinion. It hasn't helped that we conceded goals in the last few games.

"Josh has responded how I expected and demanded that he would and that's the most important thing.

Griffiths, who hails from Hereford, was in his first season as Albion No.1 though has already built an impressive CV of in excess of 100 appearances on loan at Cheltenham, Lincoln, Portsmouth and Bristol Rovers.

Wildsmith, the former Sheffield Wednesday and Derby keeper, was preferred by former boss Tony Mowbray last season in the wake of Alex Palmer's sale to Ipswich at the end of the January transfer window.

Wildsmith played 10 times but made a series of costly errors and Mowbray eventually turned to Griffiths prior to this sacking.

"He's played a lot of games already, the most he's played at this level in his career in terms of continuous games," Mason said of Griffiths.

"I think up until a point recently, he'd come back from mistakes really well and he responded. He was able to grow from it.

"I've gone with a decision that I think is right and that I felt was right at the time, and for the growth, the benefit of everyone.

"I believe and I'm pretty sure that Josh is going to be in a much better place next time he's starting a game of football for us."

An error from Griffiths proved costly late on in defeat at Ipswich in October. He was also unable to keep out Andi Weimann's late winner for Derby at The Hawthorns in September.

The former England youth international was beaten poorly from range in the recent home win over Swansea, but Mason's side were able to rally from behind and produce a comeback victory.