Roberto Di Matteo's blast for officials

Albion boss Roberto Di Matteo has hit out at the officials at Fulham for failing to punish a tackle that added Marek Cech to the Hawthorns injury list.

The Slovakia international was caught just below the knee by Fulham full-back John Pantsil during the first-half.

And Di Matteo was angry that the poor challenge was not spotted by referee Martin Atkinson or his assistants.

The head coach said: "The fact that the linesman was two yards away from it and didn't see or give anything, or maybe didn't want to see anything, was disappointing.

"My player had to come off injured and that's why I was upset. We will have to assess him. He is in pain at the moment. I didn't see it completely but it looked like he left his foot there. The injury is just below his knee.

"For me it should have been a foul and maybe a card. Maybe the referee couldn't see it, but the linesman was a couple of yards away."

Di Matteo was also unhappy with the crucial first Fulham goal in first-half stoppage time that changed the match.

But the Italian refused to criticise his defenders for Brede Hangeland and Clint Dempsey's second-half headed goals.

The Baggies boss said: "The timing of the first goal was bad for us, just before half-time. We thought we could have gone in goalless and that would have been very helpful for us, but the timing was poor.

"We knew we were up against a big side and we were missing five centre halves. We don't quite have the resources to put another line-up out that could have handled Fulham.

"The players were with their men, but Fulham were just bigger than us and they took advantage of it."

But Di Matteo is refusing to be depressed by his team's run of five straight defeats.

He said: "The table is very tight. There are a lot of clubs fighting against relegation and as a newly-promoted team we always knew we were going to have a tough season.

"We are trying to give ourselves the best chance and we are in there and fighting like many other clubs.

"In the first-half, I thought we were good and we had a good chance to go ahead through Jerome Thomas and Peter Odemwingie had a chance where maybe he could have had a shot.

"In the second-half, they scored the second and third goals straight away and it's difficult when you're down like that and you don't have much to react with."

Di Matteo's former Chelsea team-mate, Fulham manager Mark Hughes, was delighted with the victory that lifted his team from the relegation zone and above Albion into 13th place.

Hughes said: "We are pleased. That is two wins in three games and three really good performances.

"We were disappointed last time out at home against West Ham, when we felt we played well but made uncharacteristic errors at key moments and the game went away from us.

"But since then we have done well. We showed good qualities at Stoke to battle and scrap and everybody knows we should have taken something at Tottenham.

"Goals change games and we have struggled a bit in that respect, but we got a good goal just before half-time and that settled us.

"Draws will give you some comfort in terms of how you perform and in some games you will play really well and only get a draw, but that doesn't get you up the league.

"What gets you up the league is wins and they have been lacking in the last few weeks."