Head Coach James Morrison insists he doesn't want defeat at Sheffield Wednesday to take away from the hard work his players and staff had put in to achieve Sky Bet Championship survival.
Albion fell to a 2-1 defeat at a sold-out Hillsborough on the final day of the 2025/26 season.
First-half goals from Nathaniel Chalobah and Liam Palmer put the hosts in control, before Karlan Grant pulled one back late on for the visitors - all in all, it was a performance that put a "downer" on the Baggies' recent run.
Morrison said: “We wanted to go 11 unbeaten, finish the season well and have that feel-good factor, and that result puts a bit of a downer on it, but I’m not going to go away from what we’ve done because it was a big achievement.
“I’ll try and keep the performances and results we’ve had in my mind so that I don't feel as angry and I am now.
“The summer is really important. A lot of hard work has had to go into it, a lot of organisation, so I’ll be crunching on that and continuing to work.
Having secured safety with last weekend’s draw against Ipswich Town at The Hawthorns, Albion were two goals down at the break at a buoyant Hillsborough. The boss, who was taking on his first game in charge, was keen not to be too critical of the visiting showing.
“I hated the performance from the first half; it’s not acceptable,” he continued. “I don’t want to be too critical because the players have given everything.
“I’ve learned a lot today. I’ve learned that we can’t come off the pace; we’re not that team. We need to value the ball better. When it’s on us to take the game to them, we’ve got to look after the ball better and make better passes and be more creative in the final third.
“I’ll be reflecting on it and making sure that the standards that we set are there.
“Where we were at Oxford to now, we’ve got to look at that as a positive because the lads have given everything.”
