Ryan Mason says defeat at home to Derby County on Saturday afternoon “certainly wasn’t deserved”.
The Rams claimed a 1-0 triumph at The Hawthorns thanks to a late strike from second-half substitute Andi Weimann.
The Baggies had a number of goalscoring opportunities, but were unable to hit the target for the first time in the Sky Bet Championship this season.
Mason believes his team did more than enough to win it and says a maiden defeat of the league campaign “hurts”.
He said: “I think we did enough to claim all three points today. They’ve had one shot on target in the whole match.
“I thought we played an excellent game and we had so much control in the first half.
“We nullified all of their strengths. We know what type of team they are and what moments they play for. I thought we nullified them, pretty much the whole game.
“I think we’re unfortunate with the goal and the situation, but from a structural point of view, we were in position and we were good. Sometimes that happens. It hurts, and it’s certainly not what we deserved.
“We have to accept it and we have to try and learn from it and grow from it.
“It felt like a day where the goal was coming. We knew the spaces would appear in the second half if we stayed patient and disciplined with our football. I really believe that started to happen. The openings were there.
“Jayson Molumby has hit the bar with the shot at the end, but before that he had one where the keeper has made a save. Alex Mowatt has cleared one of our headers off the line unfortunately too, and that kind of stuff can happen.
“Listen, we played a good match. I’ve watched all of their games and they’ve caused teams a lot more problems than what they caused us today. We have to take the emotion out of it, which is hard because it’s so fresh and it hurts, and keep moving forward.
“It was disappointing to concede so late in the game. I can’t remember too many moments from them, but it happens.
“I can’t fault the effort from the players. We showed a lot of quality as well, we just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net. That’s the reality. It’s a disappointing day.”
