West Brom manager Roberto Di Matteo hailed two-goal Jerome Thomas after his brace against Reading got their promotion challenge back into gear with a 3-1 win in the Coca-Cola Championship.

Albion fell behind after just six minutes to a goal from Matt Mills before the double from Thomas and a late strike from Youssouf Mulumbu earned

them their first win in four league games as they joined Newcastle at the top of the table with the Magpies playing Nottingham Forest in the late kick-off.

Di Matteo, who picked up Thomas on a free transfer this summer after he was released by Portsmouth at the end of last season, said: "Jerome had looked very sharp in training and we were trying to transfer that into the games.

"He did that against Reading. He looked very dangerous. He was a threat all day and the fact he scored two goals is a bonus for us.

"I hope he isn't just going to play like that for one game.

"I knew he was available in the summer and we were looking for a player with that kind of ability so we contacted him and he was quite happy to sign for us."

Di Matteo was pleased with the performance of his team as a whole - especially after the shock of falling behind.

He added: "I think there was a bit of nervousness after we conceded the goal.

"But I asked the team for a good performance and 100% commitment and in the long run if you do play with that you should get good results."

The only downside for Di Matteo was losing striker Roman Bednar after five minutes with a back injury - the full extent of which has yet to be discovered.

While the win got the Baggies' promotion push moving again, it leaves Reading still deep in trouble at the foot of the table.

They have won just two matches this season and manager Brendan Rodgers has called on his team to cut out the sloppy mistakes that are costing them.

Jobi McAnuff gifted Thomas his first goal and Rodgers said: "We had good control of the game after we scored.

"But this season we have given teams encouragement through mistakes and if we are going to progress as a group we need to rectify that or we will undo a lot of our good work.

"We have been making mistakes in a lot of our games and we present goals to teams.

"We should do better even at 1-1 we were still in the game. We are a team capable of being at the top of this league but we become too vulnerable and we have to become more ruthless.

"This is a league where it is difficult to find consistency. We only hope we can find some form that lasts.

"I still have every ambition that we can climb the league but I have to be realistic as well. It is a tough league and we have to be better."

The hosts were guilty of some woeful defending when Mills gave Reading the lead with a close range header - his second goal since his summer switch from Doncaster.

He was left unmarked to convert a left-wing free kick from Brian Howard.

Reading should have doubled their advantage five minutes later through McAnuff only for him to volley over the bar from six yards.

McAnuff then handed Albion their route back into the game following his misplaced pass on the half hour.

Goalkeeper Adam Federici raced out of his area to try and intercept but Thomas took it past him and ran the ball into an empty net despite the best efforts of former Albion loan player Shaun Cummings to stop him.

West Brom laid siege to the Reading goal in the second-half only for Federici to deny Wood, Gianni Zuiverloon and Marek Cech with smart saves before Thomas ended his resistance in the 65th minute.

Thomas was picked out by Chris Wood and made no mistake with a low left-foot drive from 14 yards.

Mulumbu then sealed Albion's success with a looping volley from the edge of the area three minutes from time after Federici had punched clear a cross from Graham Dorrans.