West Bromwich Albion proved they have the character to achieve promotion to the Premier League by coming from behind to beat Colchester, believes Roman Bednar.
The Czech striker fired home the winner in the third minute of added time to seal a vital 4-3 win against relegation-certainties Colchester at The Hawthorns. The visitors looked like recording a shock victory after leading 2-0 and 3-2 before James Morrison grabbed a 90th-minute equaliser for Albion.
If they had succumbed at home to lowly opposition, Albion's credentials as promotion favourites would have been severely questioned and once again this weekend's FA Cup semi-final would have been seen as a distraction, but Bednar struck in the dying minutes to keep Tony Mowbray's side in touch with the Championship leaders.
"It was a good day for us again," said the on-loan Heart of Midlothian striker, who has now contributed 17 goals so far this season. "We were 2-0 down after some poor play but we showed character and came back and we had lots of chances to score many goals.
"I am just happy that we won 4-3 and one of my chances went in because I had two good chances before that and I was very disappointed I didn't score from them.
"I am very happy for the team that we took the three points. It was fantastic to score because I was involved in the set-piece for their third so I was very disappointed.
"It was a very hard game. I was running around all afternoon and I was tired but I knew I needed to score. If I or someone else hadn't scored, I would have felt bad because I don't think I played too well."
Meanwhile, the agent of Bednar's teammate Martin Albrechtsen has played down talk of him leaving The Hawthorns for a move to Italian Serie A side Lazio.
The Danish defender, who celebrates his 28th birthday today, is waiting on the outcome of talks over a new deal with Albion and has been linked with a move to Italy.
"We are still discussing with West Bromwich Albion, but we have not been offered something serious yet," agent Michael Johansen said. "There has not been any serious interest from Lazio since January."
