Albion's PL2 team were beaten 3-1 by Nottingham Forest on Friday night at a sodden Alexander Stadium.
Shakur Samuels' brace gave the visitors a two-goal lead at the break after Rio Parmar had seen an earlier spot-kick saved, but half-time substitute Cole Dexter pulled one back with a super finish into the top corner less than four minutes into the second period.
However, the Baggies couldn't find a leveller and conceded a third in the final 15 when Forest sub Kanye Bradshaw powered high into the net from around 15 yards out.
There were plenty of opportunities in the opening half. Midfielder Charlie Blackshields was handed a gift when Keehan Willows, the Reds' man between the sticks, passed the ball straight to him on the edge of the box. Sadly, his rasping effort was pushed away by the number one.
The home outfit went on to win a penalty 20 minutes in. Left-back Adam Letlat drove into the box and was clipped by a defender. Parmar stepped up, but his right-footed attempt was pushed onto the post by Willows.
Baggies stopper Ben Cisse was then called into action shortly before the half-hour mark. He tipped a half-volley from Spencer Sutton over the bar for a corner, before watching the resulting set-piece end in another chance for Forest. Matthew Orr was unmarked at the back post, but nodded onto the bar.
The deadlock was broken 10 minutes prior to the whistle. Samuels drilled the ball into the far bottom corner from the left side of the box, and the same man made it 2-0 in the dying stages of the opening 45. The away team broke and shifted the ball to the right of the area, with the winger guiding it beyond Cisse into the near top corner.
The hosts made the perfect start the second half though, pulling one back almost instantly. Dexter, introduced just moments earlier, cut inside in the box and rifled the ball into the top corner away from Willows' reach with his left foot.
Leigh Downing's group will have wanted to kick on from there, but, in truth, it was the East Midlanders who were pushing for the fourth goal. They almost found it three times before finally doing so, with Cisse making two saves and seeing a further shot come back off his right post following a corner.
But Bradhsaw did manage to restore the two-goal advantage after 75 minutes. He received a pass around the penalty spot, shifted the ball onto his right boot and curled it past Cisse and two Baggies defenders who had tried to get back to help out the goalkeeper.
Albion were unable to put the visitors under the required amount of pressure to get themselves back into the contest and slipped to their second PL2 defeat of the 2026/27 term.
ALBION: Cisse, DuPont, Perkins, Pinnington ©, Letlat, Colesby (Lucas HT), Blackshields (Trialist HT), McNeil, Parmar, French (Dlamini HT), Francis-Caesar (Dexter HT).
Substitutes: Brady (GK), Round.
*With thanks to ADDYPIXX for the match images.
