Albion boss Gus Poyet has assured Matt Sparrow he is still part of his plans and praised his professional response to being axed.

Sparrow was the odd man out for Saturday’s 1-0 victory at Bristol City.

The former Scunthorpe midfielder made the journey to Ashton Gate but was excluded from the matchday squad for the first time this season.

He lost out to Alan Navarro for one of the five places permitted on the bench in the Championship, following the returns from injury of Romain Vincelot and Will Buckley.

Poyet told The Argus: “There are going to be situations with a player like Matt where maybe he will find himself not on the bench one day and then in the starting eleven next week, depending on how we play, the opposition, the quantity of games.

“That is something new for the players. With seven on the bench that would not happen, a fit player going from on the pitch one week to in the stand next week. Now that can happen at any time.

“I didn’t like it when I was a player and I don’t like it now as a manager, because I understand how the players are feeling, but we need to manage it. Matt took it professionally. There was no bad reaction, so I’m very pleased about that. Also, I think the best way to take this is to wait, to see the result, to see the performance, because anything you say before the game can go against you.

"I’m very pleased that nothing happened. The way we treat the players they understand what is going on.

"Matt has been training the best I’ve seen this year in the last two weeks, so it was not a matter of performance or liking one player over another.

"I decided to go with Navs. There was no one reason for that, it is just feelings you get as a manager."