Joe Wildsmith offers apology as West Brom boss makes 'where do you go?' point

Albion suffered back-to-back 1-0 defeats to go winless in four games as Trai Hume's first-half free-kick crept beyond Wildsmith's efforts to save to decide the Championship clash.

Mowbray's men had far more efforts at goal than their fourth-placed visitors but only a handful of clear chances on another afternoon of frustration leaving Albion, for the first time in recent memory, outside of the top six by three points.

For Wildsmith, the deputy stepping in for the sold Alex Palmer in January, it was not a first major error with a mistake leading to a goal at Burnley last month.

Mowbray said: “He should have saved it. He apologised to me after the game – he came to find me in my office and said it’s on him.

“But that’s the job as a goalkeeper. It’s frustrating because that becomes the narrative.

“Yet we had to score, with the chances we had and the situations we got into, you have to put the ball in the net.

“But we didn’t, like last week, so it becomes about the goal we lost rather than the three we should have scored."

Albion have academy graduate prospect Josh Griffiths, who is highly regarded by the club, waiting in the wings after his recall from League One Bristol Rovers in January following Palmer's sale to Ipswich.

There have been calls from supporters for Griffiths, 23, to be handed an opportunity given errors from 29-year-old Wildsmith.

Mowbray said when asked if he had a decision to make between the sticks for Bristol City on Tuesday: “We’ve been here before but I’ll see what he’s like in training and see how he reacts.

“It’s very naïve to think ‘the goalie makes a mistake, so change the goalie’. Because if the goalie you put in makes a mistake in the next game, where do you go then?

“Change him again? I don’t think so, so I will rely on my experience to make the right decisions.

“The goalkeeper acknowledged he made a pretty bad mistake which cost us a goal which ultimately cost us the game.

“But the responsibility of the team is to score some goals in a game we were on top of for most of it.

“Some amazing chances came, they blocked a few on the line and how (Jayson) Molumby didn’t score that one in the six-yard box on his head…

“There were lots of chances but that’s where we are at the moment. We need to keep going and stick together.”

It was an impressive rearguard display by Regis Le Bris's visitors but Albion's lack of cutting edge with end product was evident again with countless shots blocked, shanked off-target, with crosses low and high missing their targets.

Mowbray's men dominant possession and shot counts but only managed three efforts on target from 21 shots compared to the visitors' three on target from seven attempts.

The head coach added: “It was a bit similar to last week – a lot of domination, a lot more attempts on goal than the opposition and we didn’t score a goal, we gifted then a goal and lost 1-0.

“That’s football – it’s cruel. You have to score if you’re going to win and we didn’t."