James Morrison targets late surge with West Brom like 2009/10 season

The long-serving midfielder, who has returned from injury to feature in the run-in, was part of Roberto Di Matteo’s side that finished that season in the Championship on a 12-game unbeaten run.

That was the last time Albion were in the second tier, and it was enough to ease them to promotion in second place behind Newcastle United.

“That was some run and that’s what we need to do now,” said Morrison. “One of our disappointments this season has been that we haven’t gone on a big run of games.

“I think we’ve only done it once where we went nine games unbeaten. That’s our target now, to put an unbeaten run together.

“The last time we went on a bit of a bad run we followed it up over Christmas and put a run together.

“Everyone connected with the club needs to buy into what we’re trying to do. We need to be together as one and look forward to the challenge ahead.”

Morrison came off the bench at Elland Road for his first appearance since New Year’s Day, and he’s raring to go for the run-in.

“I’ve been waiting patiently,” he said. “Everyone knows we have a big squad. Unfortunately I got injured at the wrong time.

“Players came in and did really well. I’ve had to keep working and wait for an opportunity. It was nice to be on the pitch but obviously the result is not what we wanted.

“I’m not the only one, other lads have had to be patient and watch from the sidelines.

“I always believe that things in football can change very quickly. When I was speaking to the manager he just said ‘be ready’.

“That’s what I did in training to get myself into shape to be ready.”

Albion are seven points behind the top two with 11 games remaining, but they host bottom-club Ipswich Town on Saturday.

“This is a great time for us to sort out our home form coming off the disappointment of Friday night,” said Morrison.

“It was a heavy defeat and this is a chance for us to make amends in front of our home fans and give them something to shout about.

“All we can do now is concentrate on ourselves and realistically, to have a chance at the top two, we will have to win a lot of our games. That’s what we’ll try to do. We need to put a run together.

“We need to be in good form going into the end of the season.”

And he hopes the fans will help the Baggies mount a late promotion charge in the final games of the season.

“There have been times either when we’ve been fighting relegation or chasing promotion that had our backs to the wall,” said Morrison.

“The fans have always helped us when we’ve been in that position and hopefully they can help us again now.

“It’s never easy when you’re one of the top teams in the league. Teams come to spoil it and in recent years that’s what we’ve done in the Premier League, being hard to beat.

“The last few games of last year were all about momentum and everyone pushing in the same direction.

“The atmosphere and the mood about the place was brilliant and that’s what you need if you want to go on runs.

“I remember the Tottenham home game (last season), I was there watching, and the atmosphere was probably one of the best I’ve seen at The Hawthorns. It was special.

“That’s what we’re trying to create, to get that atmosphere going, and hopefully towards the end of the season we’re in around it and that atmosphere and momentum can push us on.”