Charlie Austin hails West Brom's character

The Baggies have netted in the 75th minute or later in 12 of their 19 Championship games this season.

They have also scored nine goals from substitutes – more than any other team in the top four tiers of English football.

And Austin, who came off the bench to net penalties in the recent wins over Sheffield Wednesday and Preston – believes that shows the strength of character that exists throughout the squad.

"We are where we are in the league for a reason – good team spirit, strong characters, and that stands us in good stead," the striker said.

"I think if you look at our character, we've got it everywhere.

"We’ve got with the youngsters in the team, like Nathan (Ferguson) and Kyle (Edwards).

"We've got it with the senior lads.

"I think we’re going to go well this year. But you can feel it around the training ground and around the stadium, the atmosphere is great.

“Long may that continue, we’ve got a tough run of games coming up. As everybody knows, at Christmas time there are a lot of games.

“We’ll just keep ticking them off and that’s all we can do.”

Meanwhile, Austin says he is enjoying being part of a side where the goals are spread around – even if that means he gets less chances.

Slaven Bilic has lined up his charges in a 4-2-3-1 system this season with Grady Diangana, Matheus Pereira and Matt Phillips often the three men behind the striker.

And that attacking trio has all chipped in goals with Phillips the club's top scorer on six while Pereira and Diangana both have four.

"It’s good," Austin said when asked what it's like to play with Albion's attacking trio.

"Sometimes as a forward it gets a bit frustrating because you make a couple of runs and the ball doesn’t come.

"That’s part and parcel of football and the luxury of having those players. They win you games of football.

"It’s a collective performance and we are a good team – it takes a lot to stop us."