Roberto Di Matteo insisted he was proud of his Albion side after their third round Carling Cup exit to a young Arsenal outfit. It was the Championship leaders who looked set to take control of the game with Simon Cox and Robert Koren both coming close before Jerome Thomas saw red for violent conduct on his return to north London and changed the outlook of the game.
The dismissal seven minutes before half-time saw the visitors on the back foot for the rest of game with Sanchez Watt opening the scoring on 68 minutes – only moments after Simon Cox had missed a header from six yards out. The Gooners extended their advantage seven minutes later after Carlos Vela capitalised on a terrible defensive error from Leon Barnett.
“I'm very proud of my players tonight,” Di Matteo insisted.
"We wanted to win but we'll focus on the next game now.
"I thought we had a good first-half and, just before the sending-off, we were starting to get hold of the game.
"I fancied our chances."
The Baggies’ chief had no complaints with the dismissal of former Arsenal man Thomas but believed young starlet Jack Whishire was to blame for the incident. The winger will now be suspended for the games against Crystal Palace, Barnsley and Preston.
"Jerome's sending-off was a red card,” the former MK Dons boss agreed.
"But Jerome went to shake Wilshere's hand, apologise and help him get up.
"But Wilshere didn't accept it and then Jerome reacted to something he said.
"I'm disappointed Wilshire didn't accept his hand - Jerome just wanted to help him get up.
"He's a fellow colleague - but it is part of the game.
"The sending-off was probably a turning point.
"Just before that, we were starting to get on top of them.
"It changed after that.
"We still created a few chances in the second half.
"Chris Wood had a couple of chances maybe to nick one back and make it a bit more interesting towards the end.
"It wasn't meant to be tonight but good luck to Arsenal in the competition.
"They are very talented and congratulations to them."