Ryan Mason accepted Albion were made to pay for missed opportunities at Swansea City on New Year's Day.
The Baggies were beaten 1-0 in South Wales, with second-half substitute Jay Fulton notching the only goal of the game inside the final 20 minutes.
The visitors had chances to score the opener at the Swansea.com Stadium, but home stopper Lawrence Vigouroux thwarted efforts from Ousmane Diakité, Samuel Iling-Junior, Karlan Grant and Mikey Johnston.
Mason says Swansea were more clinical than his outfit and insists they cannot feel hard done by if they're unable to hit the back of the net.
“I think you could see in the first half that not being able to make changes to our squad probably affected us a little bit in terms of the intensity.
“Having said that, there wasn’t many chances for either team in that first half. It was a bit scrapy and a bit ugly.
“In the second half, we probably had a 15-minute spell where we had opportunities to score and you have to score in that moment. We didn’t. Their lad then goes and scores from 30 yards – he sticks it in the top corner. It’s hard to avoid to be honest.
“We’ve been punished for not taking our chances when they came. That’s the reality of football. You have to take your chances when you get them and you earn them. If you don’t, you open yourself up to get punished.
“Far too many times this season we’ve been a goal up and not been able to get the second goal. We’ve not been clinical enough and it’s cost us. Today, we’ve had chances to put one in the net and we’ve been punished.
“Their goal isn’t really a great chance. It’s a really good goal from 30 yards and that’s the difference. It seems to be the way at the minute, especially away from home. If you don’t take your chances, you can’t expect to win games.
“We’ve not done enough to win the game, however you break it down, analyse it or speak about it. We’ve lost and there are many different reasons that have contributed to that.
“My feeling is that it was in our control, especially in that second half where we had a couple of really good opportunities. We’ve lost and that’s the reality.
“We weren’t able to make changes and they’ve made four. At the moment, we’re not in a position to. We can’t, we actually can’t. There are injuries and illnesses.
“Our squad is thin and you could feel the intensity in the first half was really low. However, we found the energy in the second half and we grew into the game and created opportunities.
“If you don’t take the opportunities, then you don’t deserve to win the game. That’s the reality. I can’t stand here and say we’ve been hard done by today, because we didn’t take our chances. They were more clinical than us. We weren’t clinical enough and we weren’t killers. We didn’t do enough to win.”
