Steve Sidwell believes Albion fans saw the real Mathew Ryan.

And it wasn’t in that nightmare moment which saw him fumble Nico Gaitan’s hit-and-hope into his own net.

The Aussie was applauded back out in the second half – and indeed straight after the gift goal - by sympathetic home fans who had seen him make a three fine saves, all low to his left, with the score at 0-0.

He did even better very late on from Antoine Griezmann, only for Atletico to grab the winner from the rebound.

Sidwell, whose header gave Albion their second leveller of a thoroughly enjoyable contest, highlighted those stops.

And he also said Ryan gave a glimpse of how he can use the ball.

Sidwell told The Argus: “I thought in the first half he was brilliant and made a load of good saves. His distribution was brilliant as well.

The Argus:

Mathew Ryan looks dejected after the first goal

“But goalkeepers sometimes get judged on one mistake.

“We came in half-time and said to him he had been probably been our best player, along with Shane Duffy, in the first half. It was nothing to worry about.

“It was good it was in a pre-season friendly, I suppose!”

Sidwell added: “He is very strong mentally. He will be disappointed, it being his first home game.

“But it’s better to get those mistakes out of the way now and, when the season starts, I’m sure we will be solid.”

Sidwell arrived late for the header Solly March’s inviting chipped cross to make it 2-2.

That is the sort extra dimension Albion might need for goals in the top flight – a midfielder or winger getting into the box almost un-noticed at the last moment.

One-on-one trickery like that shown by March, who left Spanish international right-back Juanfran for dead, will also come in handy.

The first leveller came from a man who can offer versatility in attacking areas, Pascal Gross.

The German saw his free-kick, aimed low, flick off Gaitan, the man who had caught out Ryan.

It nestled nicely in the net via the inside of the near post.

Sidwell said: “Pascal takes up good positions behind the striker.

“He can cover a lot of ground and use left or right foot.

“He does the good side as well as the ugly side.

“I’m sure he will be chipping in with a lot of goals and setting a few up.”

Sidwell, who went on for the second half, enjoyed the test as much as most of the 27,000 in the ground seemed to.

He said: “This team we have played against over the last few years have proved they can compete at the highest level.

“That is what we will come up against, the way they can slow the game down they want to do that and then attack at will.

“We will have a look at the goals we have conceded and then work at that.”