West Brom's Jed Wallace: We bottled major play-off chance

Carlos Corberan's side dropped two points in Easter Monday's 2-2 Hawthorns draw against lowly QPR after racing into a 2-0 lead and Wallace argued it would be 'unjust' if the Baggies still make the top six having repeatedly squandered opportunities.

The gap to sixth somehow remains five points following a Bank Holiday double-header in which Corberan's side faced sides that found themselves 19th and 18th heading into the fixtures.

But having managed just a single point from those games the winger criticised another huge missed opportunity for Albion, as rivals slipped up around them.

Albion, in 11th, have exactly the same record as after 40 league games last season – 15 wins, 12 draws and 13 defeats, as well as the same league position. A goal difference of six is one fewer than the record from 2021/22.

"It's basically a loss really, we start the game well, get 2-0 up and then a goal out of nothing and a calamity goal really," Wallace told BBC WM.

"It's not on Josh (Griffiths), he's a young player, it's down to the senior players to manage those situations better.

"It's disappointing, we had a massive opportunity over the weekend to make a dent in where we want to get to and for the lack of a better saying we've bottled it as a group of players.

"We've not done enough to win the two games and haven't played to the level we know we can play at all really.

"No disrespect to QPR, I've got a lot of respect for Gareth Ainsworth and have played against his Wycombe teams for years but we should be beating teams like that at home with the form we've had, especially after going 2-0 up."

Brandon Thomas-Asante and Semi Ajayi helped Albion into an early lead but Lyndon Dykes reduced the arrears before an error from Josh Griffiths, who poor touch from Erik Pieters' backpass led to a clearance rebounding in off Chris Martin.

Corberan welcomed back Jayson Molumby as a late substitute much earlier than expected after a groin injury but Albion have struggled without influential duo Dara O'Shea and Okay Yokuslu. Kyle Bartley, not long back in contention, could be set for another spell out as he waits on a hamstring scan.

Wallace added: "Yes, it's (the feeling for) all of us, we've shown so much character to fight and claw our way into position from where we were at the start of the season to give ourselves a good opportunity.

"I don't think anyone can individually say they've played well in the last couple of games and we need that, we've got good players at this level and if the big players don't turn up then we're not going to win games.

"It's easy excuse to say we're missing five or six big players but that's football, we've got a good squad and we've not used the opportunity to play anywhere near the level we have over the last three or four months and most of our careers, so we've definitely let ourselves and the fans down over the last two games."

With 18 points to play for over the final six games Albion are not mathematically out of the race for the top six but must halt a winless run of four games and win away for the first time since January 14 in their next outing, at Stoke on Saturday.

Wallace surmised: "No it's not a mentality issue, a lot of the dressing room has been promoted from this level at the club so they've done it before.

"I don't think it's a lack of effort, I think fans see we're fighting for every ball, running hard, give our all, it's just silly mistakes and people not playing to the level we know. It's certainly not a lack of effort and I think everyone can see that.

"We're trying our best but trying hard is not good enough playing for a team like this, we need to play better individually and if we do that then amazingly we still have an opportunity to do something this season – which feels unjust really after the last couple of games.

"But we know it's not dead and buried, if we can put a run together like we've shown this season then anything can happen."