Caretaker boss Keith Downing said yesterday’s third round exit at the hands of Crystal Palace was a bitter pill to swallow.
Downing suffered his first defeat in temporary charge of the Baggies after Dwight Gayle’s 22nd minute goal and Marouane Chamakh’s late counter punch.
After a disappointing first half, Albion had several changes to find an equaliser but could not find a way past Palace stopper Julian Speroni.
“It is a little bit hard to take,” said Downing.
“We gave them a goal, which is disappointing.
“When you play against Tony Pulis’ sides you know they’ll be organised and resolute.
“Once we gave the goal away it made it doubly difficult for the afternoon.
“We had a lot of possession and it was frustrating.
“In the last third of the field we didn’t do enough or have enough quality on the end of things.
“We had enough ball to cause them problems but overall we were frustrating throughout the afternoon.
“Goals change games and momentum.
“At half-time we talked about a lack of intensity to our game.
“We were a bit disappointing without the ball, we didn’t get after people.
“We’ve been positive in the last four games and I felt there was too much caution today.
“We kind of waited for things to happen and I wanted individuals to grab the game a little bit in the second half.
“We did that to a certain extent but didn’t show enough quality in the final third to get that elusive goal.”
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