West Brom's Chris Brunt: We paid for errors and sucker-punch Derby second
Albion interim boss Chris Brunt felt the visitors gave themselves too much of a mountain to climb in a 2-1 defeat at Derby.
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The Baggies started life without Carlos Corberan with defeat as a goal in each half by the hosts did the damage. Grady Diangana hit back late on but Albion could not force a leveller.
Brunt, who is in situ alongside Damia Abella and Boaz Myhill, were comfortably second-best in a poor first period. With a one-goal deficit they improved after the break but just after Darnell Furlong spurned a golden chance Derby grabbed a second through Mason Holgate's deflected own goal.
Brunt said: "Disappointing. We gave ourselves too much to do, we knew exactly what was coming and didn't deal with it well for half an hour. We got a bit of a foothold but were already 1-0 down.
"We had a couple of chances, hit the post with two great efforts from outside the box. We tweaked a couple of things at half-time, spoke about what we could do better and got hit with a sucker-punch.
"We turned the ball over a lot and individual errors are part of the game. Derby are really good at capitalising on things like square passes, which we didn't take care of well as a team. They were ready to pounce all over it and did so twice which gave them the opportunity to sit back and shut up shop which they're good at."
The caretaker team made a single change from Corberan's farewell, a 2-0 win over Bristol City on Sunday, as Uros Racic replaced Jayson Molumby in midfield. Racic was one of several who struggled in the first half and was withdrawn at the interval.
Brunt insisted there was no blame or fault solely with the on-loan Racic.
"With the amount of games coming up, Jayson got a couple of whacks in the Bristol City game on Sunday, there was a little bit of protection in there, obviously Derby's threat from set-pieces, Uros is a big lad," added the legendary former midfielder.
"Obviously it was what it was in the first half. I'm not pointing fingers at Uros. We made the change at half-time - it wasn't just down to him, we made a change based on what we needed to do as a team."
The interim head coach added: "Individual errors are part of the games. I don't think we'll ever have a go at anybody for trying to do the right thing. Square passes were a big one, we gave away a couple especially in the first half.
"If anything it just drains a bit of momentum we gathered. It gives them and the crowd a list. This is a tough place to come, Paul Warne teams work hard."
