Ryan Mason has one man to thank for saving his West Brom job - Baggies have well and truly hit the jackpot | OneFootball

West Brom's Aune Heggebo has started to find his form in front of goal, and Ryan Mason will be extremely thankful for it

At half-time on Saturday, things weren't looking good for West Brom or Ryan Mason, as the Baggies were 2-0 down at home against a Swansea City side who had lost four on the bounce before the meeting at The Hawthorns.

The Baggies' decision to bring in Ryan Mason over the summer for his first full-time managerial role had people full of anticipation, with some feeling that the season could go either one of two ways: either Mason would emerge as the next most exciting young manager, or it would fall very flat.

Currently, it's in the midst of both, with West Brom sat slap bang in mid-table after 18 games. The Baggies have shown glimpses of real quality at times, but they've also been quite poor, too, and fans have been quite frustrated at those poor moments.

On the field, Aune Heggebo has taken the brunt of that frustration. Signing for £4.75 million in the summer from SK Brann, he'd scored only once in his opening 14 Championship appearances.

However, a goalscoring double to help turn the Swansea game on its head, alongside another brace the weekend before and a winner against Oxford United before that, has West Brom in the ascendancy.

Aune Heggebo is hitting form at the right time for West Brom

One of West Brom's biggest issues in the early stages of the campaign has been their inability to perform in the second half. Another has been their struggles to break teams down.

On Saturday, the stars aligned, and they did both, coming from 2-0 down at half-time to win against Swansea, and scoring three times for just the second time this season.

The catalyst for the comeback was none other than Norwegian striker Heggebo, who has been finding his feet recently in the Championship.

After only scoring more than once in a game just twice in their first 14 league outings this season, the Baggies have now netted at least twice in three of their last four, and Heggebo has five goals across those games.

It started against Oxford, when the 24-year-old popped up with a big winner to complete the turnaround after going one-nil down. That gave both himself and West Brom a boost going into the international break, and he's ridden that momentum since.

Heggebo bagged his first brace in Baggies colours away at Coventry, as West Brom took a 2-0 lead against the dominant league leaders. Ryan Mason's side went on to lose that one 3-2, but it was another improved performance.

Then, after blanking against Birmingham in midweek, the 24-year-old kick-started the comeback against Swansea, scoring twice in the opening seven minutes of the second half to level things and provide the foundations for Jayson Molumby to win it five minutes from time.

It was a frustrating opening few months to the campaign for Heggebo as he struggled to adapt to the division. But now, he seems to be firing on all cylinders, and West Brom fans are hoping that his goalscoring exploits in November are a sign of things to come over the next few months.

West Brom's comeback against Swansea City has eased pressure on Ryan Mason

The Hawthorns was quite a toxic place at 3:45 pm on Saturday, but come 5pm it was all smiles, as the Baggies picked up a much-needed win against a struggling Swansea side.

There may still be some pressure on Ryan Mason from some corners of the West Brom fanbase, but there's no doubting that this is a side that hasn't given up on the 34-year-old just yet and is willing to fight for his job.

There's clear quality in this Baggies squad, and recent performances against both Coventry and Birmingham, where the Baggies took the lead but couldn't hold on to it, have shown that.

Now, it's all about sustaining that quality for longer periods in games, and ensuring that the second-half display against Vitor Matos' side can be replicated for a full 90 minutes.

Flying the flag of that charge has been Heggebo, who has been one of the first names on the teamsheet for the majority of Mason's reign so far, and he's started to pay that back with some very important goals.