Reid elated with McAuley contribution

Steven Reid is delighted with how well Gareth McAuley has been playing since the summer signing broke into West Brom's starting eleven.

The Northern Ireland international was struck down by a mystery stomach virus in the summer that lasted eight weeks and was at one time thought to be potentially career threatening.

But he has now fully recovered and forged a strong relationship with Jonas Olsson at centre half.

"Gareth has been first-class since he got into the team," Reid said about his colleague at the back.

"He had the illness in pre-season, lost a lot of weight and had to work hard to get his fitness back. But since then he's been solid week in, week out and seems to have formed a solid partnership with Jonas."

As well as being a solid defender, Reid believes that McAuley has fitted into the Baggies' dressing room seamlessly because of the type of character that he and the rest of the players are.

"That is the criteria of the club when signing players," Reid explained. "It's not just about being a good player, most clubs do background checks on what a player is like as an individual and what he's like when he leaves the training ground.

"All the lads here get on well with each other and there are no big-time Charlies or attitudes in the squad."