Tony Mowbray reserved special praise for the 'inspirational' ever-green Kevin Phillips as the introduction of the division's hot-shot saw a dramatic comeback from the Baggies to secure top-spot for the first time since February.
Albion
The home side were expectedly shell-shocked after seemingly gaining three crucial points in their battle against relegation, however the visitors were not yet finished with Robert Koren sending Ishmael Miller clear in the 87th minute with the 'Moston Menace' cutting inside his defender before curling home an unstoppable effort to secure the points for the Baggies.
"We played against a team that were structured well defensively," Mowbray said after the victory.
"Great credit to Carl Hoefkens for getting into the position to earn our penalty.
"Once that went in they had to come and try and win the game and I felt in the last ten minutes, because they weren't so defensive, we could almost score at will.
"It's important to be able to make an impact from the bench and that power was lessened today by an early injury to Martin Albrechtsen.
"Still, to have Kevin to come off the bench in this league is pretty impressive.
"Kevin was on the field when we got the penalty, kept his nerve and stuck it away.
"The game opened up for us from that point.
"Kevin is showing his desire to be in a promotion-winning team.
"It's not as if he's sulking on that bench.
"He's chomping at the bit to get on the pitch.
"It's about picking the right time to do that and hopefully tonight we got it about right.
"It's getting the balance right of minutes on the pitch for Kevin because of where he is age-wise.
"It's important I utilise him at crucial stages of the game, whether that be starting him or bringing him on, so he can score goals whenever he's on the field.
"There's no point in flogging him in every game because ultimately he will lose that edge he has.
"Kevin's got that natural knack of knowing where the ball is.
"He's ultimately got the quality in his finishing to back that knack up when the chances come along.
"He knows where the goal is and you fancy it to go into the net."
Mowbray raised a few eyebrows before kick-off making a number of changes to the team which faced started at Wembley with both Phillips and Roman Bednar making way for Ishmael Miller and Luke Moore. However the boss believes the tireless work-rate of both helped the Baggies claim a vital victory.
"I thought the forwards worked tirelessly for little reward," Mowbray continued.
"Ishmael got his reward in the end with a goal.
"He is a young man and we tend to forget how young he is sometimes.
"He possesses wonderful quality and desire to be a footballer.
"He wants to score goals and get his career up and running.
"I wanted to leave him on because once the game opened up he had the pace, technique and power to hurt them individually.
"He got a bit suffocated when they were defending in numbers but he showed his power when the game opened up.
"I thought Luke did exceptionally well.
"He worked tirelessly for the team, chased things, fought, and put himself about.
"He would have been a handful for them to play against."