Two seasons ago, Geoff Horsfield scored the goal for Birmingham City that proved the final nail in West Bromwich Albion's relegation coffin.

Yesterday, he wiped that debt to the Baggies fans clear with a man-of-the-match performance against the Blues to inspire a victory that gives Albion a sight more chance of avoiding the drop this time round.

Horsfield was a constant thorn in the side of the Blues' defence at The Hawthorns. And that did not go unnoticed by his old manager Steve Bruce.

"Geoff got me in this division," said Bruce. "And he helped keep me there.

"He was fantastic today for the whole 90 minutes, and I don't know why anyone should be surprised.

"Some players are a joy to work with and he's certainly one. Over the year and half I had him he was a great pro to have on your team. And the only reason he left was because he could not be guaranteed a game with us and wanted to try his luck somewhere else."

It was a visible source of frustration to Horsfield when denied the chance by Bryan Robson to play against Blues at St Andrew's before Christmas. Left on the bench for the entire game, his annoyance was taken out at the final whistle with a kick at a water bottle.

That rare show of petulance he put down to his sheer passion for wanting to play, and he did not hold back when he finally did a run against Blues yesterday.

"I was disappointed not to get on in that first one," admitted Horsfield. "You want to play every game, especially against your old club. And to get a win today was even more special.

"They looked a little lethargic, a little slow to the second ball and we had to pick up on that. But the gaffer warned us Steve Bruce would be getting on to their lads at half time and that's why we'd need to come flying out of the blocks again to combat that."

As it was, it was Albion clearly still had the greater hunger, epitomised by Zoltan Gera's chasing a seemingly lost cause to win the corner from which Albion went ahead.

"That's what it needs sometimes," said Horsfield. "It doesn't have to be a piece of

great skill. Just somebody chasing a ball like that, or putting in a big block.

"It lifts the crowd and lifts the players, which is great, because it is so vitally important that they get behind us. If they get anxious, it puts on to the players as well, and it's not nice."

Now, admits Horsfield, the hard part is building on this victory.

"If we hadn't won today, it would have been too big a gap to make up, so we knew how vital the three points were. But while I know we're off the bottom, it's still a massive task as we've got Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United to play.

"It would be a fantastic achievement if we did stay up. I've never had a relegation in my career so it would be nice to keep that record going.

"We know how hard it will be at Chelsea on Tuesday, but we just have to keep working."