Richard Beale's West Brom selection calls: They were brilliant

The duo, both signed by former manager Steve Bruce in the final week of the summer transfer window, have been two of the Baggies' brighter performers in recent weeks.

But Beale, whose side went down to a last-gasp 2-1 loss at The Den following Kyle Bartley's late red card, elected to leave the duo out of the travelling matchday squad – which featured a starting XI of six changes from the extremely poor home defeat to Bristol City last Tuesday.

Under-21s boss Beale, expected to have overseen his final game in caretaker charge with Albion reported to have progressed talks with target Carlos Corberan, looked to freshen up the Baggies ranks in south east London, where there was also no place for Jake Livermore and rare league starts for Adam Reach, a first of the season, Karlan Grant and Bartley.

"We wanted to change the team to bring as much energy as we could," Beale revealed. "Brandon and Martin Kelly have done a fantastic job for us over the last two games, working their absolute socks off.

"They've done nothing wrong but they didn't start today but were brilliant when I told them."

Kelly, 32, a deadline day free signing on a two-year deal, had not started a league match in two-and-a-half years prior to his switch to The Hawthorns – but impressed in completing four matches on the spin inside a fortnight prior to yesterday.

Thomas-Asante has enjoyed a promising start to his Albion career having checked in from fourth tier Salford City for a nominal fee, but lost his spot to last season's top scorer Grant, who returned from a sickness bug.

Captain Livermore, meanwhile, sustained a small injury in training on Friday that ruled him out of the clash.

But Beale made a point of inviting the skipper down to the capital to join the coaching staff on the bench due to his influence on the group.

"Jake (Livermore) picked up a little niggle in training yesterday, so he was down on the bench with us but should be fit for next week," added the interim.

"He's such a big influence around the squad and such a good guy, I said to him he can only help us by being there at this time, so it was good to have him down there."

Elsewhere, Beale explained in his post-match press conference how he would not criticise returning defender Bartley – playing for the first time in five weeks following errors in a home defeat to Blues – over the late red card, which came five minutes before Tyler Burey's winner.