West Brom still face tough road warns boss Carlos Corberan

The head coach passed a month at the helm at The Hawthorns during the current extended international break and has enjoyed an almost faultless opening to his Baggies reign.

Albion, bottom of the Championship following Corberan's first match in charge which ended in defeat against Sheffield United, signed off for the World Cup pause in style with three consecutive wins lifting them out of the relegation zone on goal difference.

Corberan was acutely aware of the importance of heading into the break on the back of a win over Stoke, one for morale among the fanbase and two for the outlook of the table, admitting 'imagine how the table would look if we had not won'.

But the head coach knows there is a lot of work to do to lift Albion up to competing in the top half and for the play-offs. "I think the game we had (against Stoke) was very, very important," Corberan said.

"Because if we don't win that game then you can imagine where the team would be.

"The most important thing was to win that game and now the most important thing is to use this period of time to recover well and improve as a team to be more competitive every time we are on the pitch."

While former Huddersfield boss Corberan was able to inspire his new side to a superb response of wins over Blackpool, QPR and Stoke – a first trio of successive victories for 15 months – he insists the road ahead is unlikely to be a smooth one.

"We need to work very hard to be a very competitive team," added the Spaniard.

"Sometimes we all want to watch good games but sometimes the teams are going to be difficult.

"I think the most important thing in football is to be ready mentally, to face the situation the football puts in front of you.

"The team was in a good way last time to face any kind of situation, mentally we are strong, we are a competitive team."