Hope Powell says watching Albion lose 3-0 to bottom club Bristol City in the WSL last month left her as low as when she lost her job as England manager in 2013.
That defeat came a week after Albion had been beaten 7-1 by Manchester City and was their fifth in six games.
But after ‘getting back to basics’ Powell the team turned the season around in spectacular fashion by ending leaders Chelsea’s 33-game unbeaten run and they followed it up last Wednesday by beating West Ham 1-0.
It’s the first time since promotion to the WSL that Albion have won back-to-back games.
She said, “After the Bristol game I did feel low, it felt like when I lost my job as England manager. You question yourself. When I lost my England job I was clear what I had to do but I didn’t get the chance.
"Here, after Bristol, I did get the chance – I started again and thankfully two games on we are in a completely different position.”
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Powell’s players held a meeting where they reset their season after the Bristol defeat but they weren’t the only ones doing some soul-searching.
“Looking back against Man City it was too easy for them, they played through us too easily.
“Player for player they have got a good squad, but it was the same squad when we played them earlier in the season and in that game [0-0 draw] we had desire, intent, we didn’t want to be beaten.
"We didn’t have it in the home game and it wasn’t good enough, we all knew that.
“In my opinion it got considerably worse in the Bristol City game. I was really disappointed; it wasn’t a side that I recognised. We were brutally honest with each other and I was with myself. Something wasn’t working so I stripped it back and I started again.
“You question your ability for a millisecond. Was there something missing? So we started by going back to doing the basics well and being hard to beat, the fundamentals that give you the best chance of being competitive in any game.
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“My job is to improve the players a bit more, to push them on. I automatically assumed doing the basics was already there, part of their DNA. The Bristol game will always be a reminder that we have to do the basics every time.”
Eight days later Albion became the first team to beat leaders Chelsea for two years.
“Five minutes in we went a goal down so you have to give immense credit to the players, they were magnificent.
"We were outplayed but we blocked everything and protected the goal well, and when we went 2-1 up we still had the resolve to hang on and get such a fantastic result. We had some luck, the gods were on our side that day.”
Just as pleasingly, Albion backed it up against West Ham.
“If we hadn’t done something against West Ham it would all have been in vain, but we were the better team and deserved to win 1-0.”
Albion are now seven points clear of the relegation place but don’t play again until they host Spurs on March 7th.
“We can’t get carried away, we have played more games than anyone else. The next game is the most important one now,” added Powell.
“We can’t afford to relax and we’re not out of the woods, we have to keep being hard to beat and picking up points. Every day until the end of the season has to be like day one after Bristol City was.”