Miron Muslic believes his Plymouth Argyle players have proved they are ready to fight for the club's Championship survival.

The Pilgrims followed up a battling 2-2 draw away to Sunderland by beating West Bromwich Albion 2-1 at Home Park, with substitute Ryan Hardie getting two late goals to swing the game in their favour after they fell behind in the 74th minute.

Their spirited performance was in complete contrast to Argyle's embarrassing 5-0 defeat by Burnley in the previous match at the Theatre of Greens, after which Muslic declared they needed 'a radical change in mentality and attitude'.

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It was a first victory in five matches for the Austrian since he took charge as head coach, and ended a run of 15 league games without a win for the Pilgrims since they beat Portsmouth 1-0 at home on November 5.

Muslic said: "Very proud and very happy for the lads. Not able to win a game in three months does something to your mind, to your head, to your heart - even to your legs. Everything becomes heavy, more difficult.

"I said against Sunderland it was a step forward and a proof of life, and today we took the next step. We are realising the situation we are in and we are ready to face this situation.

"I said against Burnley we need a radical change inside the locker room. I was not speaking about changing 15 players, it's not possible, but changing the mindset, the mentality, the attitude. We did this, so it was another step forward for us this afternoon."

Muslic gave immediate debuts to new defenders Nikola Katic and Maksym Talovierov after they both completed moves to Argyle on Friday and he was pleased with how they performed given their lack of preparation time.

"They had one (training) session," said Muslic. "After the session I had an individual meeting with them to present the idea, but I know the profiles, I know Nikola, I know Maksym, I know what they are capable of.

"Remember you guys (the media) kept asking me the questions 'Where are the players?' and I always said it's not about signing the players as soon as possible it's about signing the right players, and I think we did this with Nikola and with Maksym.

"I'm very happy for them both. It was not easy just to perform out of nowhere but I think our defensive structure was stable, very compact."

West Brom had beaten Portsmouth 5-1 at home in their previous match but although they dominated possession against Argyle they only had three shots on target, including Jayson Molumby's 74th minute goal which put them 1-0 up.

Muslic said about Argyle's solid defensive display: "That's exactly what we need, it's fundamental to survive. We are in the situation where we are and we need to stabilise the team first.

"I said this I think two-and-a-half weeks ago - just stable, compact, together and fill this structure with intensity, with life, with heart, with desire, and the lads did it today."

Muslic continued: "We kept on believing and we kept on trying. I think the lads realised we should not lose this game so let's push one more time, and if you push and if you try you can get rewarded, and it was a reward for us today.

"I think it takes a lot of guts to do this, especially in our situation where the confidence level is behind or underneath everything. It's a proof of life again and we are facing the situation we are in, and that's good."

Hardie dropped out of the team against West Brom after starting against Sunderland and that did not go down well with him, according to Muslic, who said it was the same for defender Victor Palsson who lost his place as Katic and Talovierov both came into the side.

Muslic said about Hardie: "He was not the happiest before the game on matchday minus one, the same for Victor, but this is exactly the spirit I need. So I'm very pleased with Hardie, of course, to turn the game for us and score two goals.

"I was also very impressed by Victor. I took him out after he played now four games in a row to put players in who had only one (training session), and he then replaced a centre-back (Katic) coming in for the last 15 minutes, winning every duel, shows exactly the character we need to compete."

Argyle equalised in the 77th minute with a controversially awarded penalty for a handball by West Brom left-back Callum Styles after he blocked a shot from Hardie, who converted the spot kick.

West Brom boss Tony Mowbray described it as 'very poor decision' by referee Dean Whitestone. Asked for his opinion on the incident, Muslis said: "I really don't know. I was told it was a clear one."

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