Albion fans and players make Mason feelings known

Jayson Molumby ran to celebrate with under-pressure boss Ryan Mason after scoring the winner against Swansea

Much was made of the two earliest strikes of this Premier League season so far coming within mere hours of each other on Saturday.

However, Zan Vipotnik's goal inside 11 seconds for Swansea at The Hawthorns made Phil Foden and Malik Thiaw's early efforts for Manchester City and Newcastle respectively look positively ancient.

The goal certainly caught the Albion crowd unaware, as it was met by almost stunned silence, perhaps because many were still to take their seats.

However, 10 minutes later, when Ethan Galbraith doubled the Swans' lead, the reaction was much more visceral.

First boos loudly rang around the ground before chants of 'you're getting sacked in the morning' were directed at Ryan Mason by the Throstles faithful.

The atmosphere was no kinder at the half-time whistle as the Albion fans let their feelings be known, many taking to social media to express the belief that this would be the end of the line for the man in the Baggies' dugout.

Ryan Mason is often, publicly anyway, calm to the point of stoicism, but it is hard to imagine he was cool and collected as he delivered his half-time words.

Whatever he said, along with the four changes, worked a treat.

Within two minutes of the restart, the deficit was halved and within seven it was erased completely as in-form striker Aune Heggebo bagged a double.

It was clear to see the players had rallied around their manager, a stark contrast from the Easter Monday game with Derby County last season, when a similar 2-0 interval deficit was met with a meek response.

Despite Adam Armstrong's 70th-minute strike halving the arrears, Albion never appeared to have the energy or desire to overwhelm their opponents on that day and succumbed to a 3-1 defeat, which cost Tony Mowbray his job.

The players were not prepared to let history repeat itself on Saturday, and from the moment the first Albion goal went in there was only one winner.

The Hawthorns crowd too, was energised. Instead of baying for blood, suddenly they craved goals and were duly rewarded as Jayson Molumby completed the job with five minutes remaining.

The Irishman thumped in the winner and then wheeled away to the touchline, waving his team-mates to follow him. Mason was duly mobbed by the entire squad as the players gave the most public vote of confidence to their manager you are likely to see.

The Baggies' players have said loudly and clearly, 'Mason is the man for us'.

The fans have stated unreservedly they will back any team or manager as long as they give them something to believe in.