Bruce had described Tuesday night's 3-0 home defeat to Middlesbrough as possibly the worse performance since he took on the managers job almost four years ago and the players responded with a well deserved 3-2 win at The Hawthorns.
"The first half I was absolutely delighted with because the one thing I was looking for was a response from the players and in the first-half in particular we managed to do that," Bruce said after the game.
"I know that there is an honesty amongst them and I know that we've got some good players here. I've seen in the first half how good we can be.
"What we need is everybody firing and to get everybody fit. I don't care how good a player you are, if you don't play regularly it's a struggle.
"I know for a fact that we've got the best squad of players that we've had in the last three years and make no mistake we'll get better."
Emile Heskey returned to the side for the first time in two games and duly bagged a brace against the Albion and Bruce emphasised just how important he is to his squad.
"We haven't had him for two games and somebody like him is vital to us," Bruce said.
"If you play to his strengths, which we did against Albion, he will cause anyone problems.
"His contribution today was absolutely immense."
Bruce has come in for some criticism over the last three days following Blues' slow start to the season so he was pleased to see the side register their first away win in the league since last December.
"The last 2 or 3 days have been difficult," he said.
"All of a sudden you've lost the plot, you're not good enough and the last four years are erased so I was looking for a huge response and to be fair the lads have done that for me."