Chris Hughton has hailed Sam Baldock’s current form – as the striker relishes his hard work off the ball.

Baldock scored the opener in the 3-0 win at home to Reading but also got through a lot of work closing the opposition down as they looked to pass from the back.

Albion picked off Reading’s attempts to build from deep and cut off a lot of passing options.

Baldock said: “It was very tough. Myself and Glenn (Murray) found it very tough up front because they moved the ball very nicely.

“But we thought, if we kept our solid formation and our banks of four, we would be hard to break down.

“We felt that, if we did that, we would get chances, and we took them.

“We tried to stop them passing out from the back from goal kicks.

“We didn’t want them to get into their rhythm too early.

“If we found we had an opportunity to press, we thought we would go as a team.

“It didn’t always work out but, when it did, I think it worked quite well."

He added: “Every team is different. In terms of patience on the ball, I think Reading are probably the best in the league.

“It was always going to be difficult for us and our mental toughness was always going to be tested. I thought we did that very well.”

Baldock capped his performance with his fourth goal in as many starts since returning from a calf injury.

Hughton said: "He's going through a good phase. That comes from playing regularly.

“He missed a couple of games but he has also been mainly injury-free. We know what Sam gives us and, at the moment, he is also giving us goals.

"It was a super goal. At the moment he is in a good place.”