West Brom debrief: Hurdling adversity, defensive progress, a proper No.9 but empty seats warning

Overcoming adversity

All's well that ends well, but it was an edgy first 15 or 20 minutes on Friday night.

It was a muted atmosphere, there was a nervousness on the pitch and in the stands, little wonder after recent form. Blades boss Chris Wilder could sense it.

The visitors almost profited and Ryan Mason's side were fortunate stand-in goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith came up trumps with a big left-handed save to keep out Gus Hamer. Wildsmith just about earned the luck that got him out of jail soon after following a woeful clearance.

The first half rather petered out - it was not a thriller - but Albion rose from its embers to start the second half on fire and net twice within 15 minutes of the restart. It was a show of guts to fight back from a first-half wobble that could have led to another derailment.

Much-needed shutout

A clean sheet has been a long time coming. Only against the other Sheffield opposition, basement boys Wednesday, have Albion managed a shutout since October 1. Friday's Blades blank made it two clean sheets in 13 games.

The volume and manner of goals against have been alarming for much of the last couple of months. Defenders have endured bad dips in form which have proven costly.

Krystian Bielik and Nat Phillips performed well here with Chris Mepham watching on from the bench. The former has been very good since his introduction as a regular. Both full-backs did a fine a job and the midfield two of Jayson Molumby and Ousmane Diakite, where Albion are down to the bare bones, fared well.

Mason has said his side have been close to other clean sheets which have but for late goals to be the undoing. Regardless, this will taste sweet.

A genuine No.9

Aune Heggebo helped create his finely-taken opener and made the second for Karlan Grant - he is in wonderful form at the moment.

All of a sudden the Norwegian is up to nine goals for the season - eight in the league - and only five have more in the second tier.

He is proving to be a very potent finisher more than capable of making the right runs to reward himself. Heggebo currently had plenty of onlookers eating humble pie.

It is also clear how he adopted the nickname of 'The Hulk' at former club Brann of his hometown city. Heggebo will fight, battle and scrap all day long. If he continues with that and a scoring touch he will be a real hero before long. 

Empty seats warning

The empty seats at The Hawthorns on Friday night told a story.

Yes it was a late kick-off, yes it was on the TV, yes it was cold, yes Christmas is coming, but the attendance was low. Albion gave the official count of 22,217 but that seemed very generous.

Fans are voting with their feet despite their side's good form at The Hawthorns.

It may be seven straight defeats away but it is unbeaten in seven at home, now with four wins from six, Mason and co. have found a formula in front of the fans.

Bilkul's Shilen Patel and Andrew Nestor watched from the stands and they will not have been blind to the empty seats, which is a concern and will want improving on.