Lewis Cox and Jonny Drury give their take on Albion's disappointing play-off second leg defeat at Southampton.
Albion defended well and kept the scores level in the first half - before handing the home side the lead as Will Smallbone fired home after a slack Grady Diangana pass.
They had two key chances before being caught at the back as Adam Armstrong fired home a second.
It got worse when they were awarded a penalty and Armstrong stroked home to seal it.
Cedric Kipre headed in a late goal but it was a mere consolation as Albion's season comes to an end.
Albion defended well and kept the scores level in the first half - before handing the home side the lead as Will Smallbone fired home after a slack Grady Diangana pass.
They had two key chances before being caught at the back as Adam Armstrong fired home a second.
It got worse when they were awarded a penalty and Armstrong stroked home to seal it.
Cedric Kipre headed in a late goal but it was a mere consolation as Albion's season comes to an end.
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SportsTranscript
00:00 Hello, Baggies fans. Welcome to ExpressAndStart.com. My name is Jonny Drury. I am here at St Mary's
00:13 with Albie Croswell and Lewis Cox. After the Albion playoff, Wembley dream came to a disappointing
00:20 and bitter end, really. Albion beat by three goals to one here at Southampton, defended
00:25 valiantly in the first half. A couple of really big chances early in the second half. But
00:29 Southampton showed their quality, took their chances. The difference was both boxes. Coxey,
00:36 Albion battled, tried hard. Probably just a little bit below their level. When you're
00:41 against a side like Southampton, like it or not, they will punish you. I think it was
00:46 a lesson tonight for Albion. Yeah, no, I think they were below their level, to be honest.
00:49 I think Carlos Corbett just said that down there as it being a press conference. Defended
00:54 well enough for the first 50 minutes, but then when we got the ball, which admittedly
00:59 isn't going to happen too often against Southampton, certainly here, you've got to be a bit better
01:03 with it. You've got to be near your best with it, to be honest, if you're going to make
01:07 anything, if you're going to get the lead here or create regular chances.
01:12 And Albion were just four on the ball, weren't they? Some of their most reliable ballplayers,
01:18 you know, those who want to make the passes or bring it under their spell. It just wasn't
01:22 happening. It wasn't in Bowe, Adonoff, Dejan Garneau was really poor and fought for the
01:26 first goal. Mikey Johnson was quiet. I mean, there you're talking about the three key sort
01:31 of creative players, aren't you? Attackers. So, yeah, it didn't get going in an attacking
01:36 sense, did it? And I think the first 15 minutes of the second half, when the opening goal
01:40 goes in, Albion do try and rally.
01:44 They're sort of two best attacking moments then come, don't they, in terms of the Moat
01:49 chance, the big one that's going in until it's blocked. Furlong forces a decent save,
01:53 good strike, David O'Malmstriele. And that all sort of happened in 15 minutes. And I
01:58 think by the hour on, they'd have had to put in control, weren't they? Credit to them.
02:05 Bigger, better squad, more resources, Premier League resources. Albion have had to contest
02:10 with that all season, outside of the top four being best of the rest. Push comes to shove
02:15 in this decider when it's all on the line, I suppose, quality and financial power and
02:22 all of that just shone through, really, unfortunately.
02:25 I do apologise. I don't quite know why Southampton's groundsmen are content on mowing the pitch.
02:30 There's not going to be another game until next season. But so if the sound quality isn't
02:34 great, I do apologise.
02:35 The pitch took a batter in at full time, didn't it?
02:37 Well, it did.
02:38 Not necessarily.
02:39 Yeah. Coxey, it was... I asked Albion fans to just say 'what if?' and for me, it was
02:43 a bit of a... I put on mine at the scoreline, which I thought was 3-0, so I got back in
02:48 the ground.
02:49 That was a rare, bright note on a low evening. Johnny coming back, having missed the end
02:57 of the game, had finished, and he saw my report and he said, 'it's 3-1'. I mean, Baggies fans
03:03 here are watching. It's the weirdest goal I've ever seen. Cedric Kimford's last second
03:07 header. No one noticed it, really. I mean, it was a fun note, a consolation, irrelevant,
03:12 really. I mean, credit them going on to bag a goal. But yeah, that was a bit strange.
03:16 I sort of put out on social media that I thought it was a bit cruel. I thought the scoreline
03:19 was a bit cruel. Obviously, 3-1 makes it look a little bit better. But that, coupled with
03:24 the fact that I don't think Southampton had to work very hard to get goals. And if you
03:29 look back over the 90 minutes, the big save from the goalkeeper probably came at the other
03:35 end in terms of furlong. I can't really remember Alex Palmer making too many, you know, oppressive
03:41 saves, really. A couple from long range, but...
03:43 No. No.
03:44 It was a case of, I don't think Southampton had to do a great deal. Did it carve Albion
03:49 up for goals? Albion mistakes almost led to them.
03:52 There would have been a better team in the first half, weren't there? I remember Brookes
03:54 going wide with their main chances. But you're right, they didn't create too much. You know,
03:58 one of the almost top scorers in the division, you know, the attackers they've got. It's
04:03 fighting for this level, really. I thought Brookes was really good. Smallbone's really
04:07 good, isn't he? Downs again. Armstrong, obviously, with the two goals, that top scorer. Goals
04:12 22 and 23 of the season. I mean, how Albion would long for a striker getting nil for 15,
04:18 really. Obviously, went with Jed Wallace to lead the line tonight, as we called for, I
04:22 think. Didn't quite happen, did it? Jed toiled away, came off for Tom Sassante after the
04:27 hour, but it was still a 1-0, but the game fell away from them, didn't it? I'd like to
04:32 see the second goal again. Armstrong's first. I can't quite picture live from memory how
04:37 it got to him, but I think in between furlong and Velo...
04:40 I stood off a bit as well. I give too much credit.
04:42 Yeah, Velo did a job, I think. He had to do a job. He was up against Frazier all day,
04:46 having to trap his man on wing back. Armstrong just had space and found the corner. He's
04:49 absolutely deadly, isn't he? And then, look, the third one comes up from a penalty. He
04:53 went Albion and tired. Velo skids it away. Yeah, the third was harsh. I agree. And you're
04:58 probably right. And I think Carlos said down there, didn't he? You were in there with me.
05:02 They probably didn't have to work their best to get the three goal cushion. And that's
05:09 disappointing, I think, because Albion could have got more out of tonight, maybe. And I'm
05:14 not saying won the game or necessarily even stayed level or took a tonne of time. But
05:19 I think the margins were relatively fine and they could have on another day, you know,
05:25 that Boat strike on another day, the big chance of 1-0, you know, probably seven, eight times
05:30 out, ten goes in, doesn't it? It was only a sort of a bluff that kept it out. It was
05:35 going in. Yeah, it just went away from Albion. But I think we must say that the better team,
05:41 the better team did win. And, you know, perhaps leads against Saints at Wembley when you look
05:46 at the championship this season is the right outcome, I think. And I did write something
05:50 on socials after the game. I think we won't get into this tonight, obviously, one for
05:54 the weeks to come. But, you know, tonight doesn't take away from the efforts of the
05:58 season, does it? The great effort of being fit for the whole campaign. Best of the rest,
06:03 as it were. It's been some effort given the resources or lack of let's be honest, given
06:08 the personnel in the squad, the lack of options in some positions, it's been a fantastic effort.
06:13 So I'm disappointed, really, for the players and Carlos that it ended so painfully like
06:18 this. Yeah, just finally a lot to dissect for Carlos Corbijn post-match press conference.
06:23 Yeah, well, we'll go through a lot of it in written form. We'll talk about a lot of it
06:26 on the podcast next week. We'll be here all night. But I think finally, he's already looking
06:31 at the next step. So there'll be a work tomorrow. Tomorrow's a normal day. It'd be in a training
06:35 ground and it looks like we'll find out pretty quickly how Albion are going to go about next
06:40 season in terms of the players that are out of contract. He's not going to waste any time
06:43 at all. Yeah, well, he's just said to me that, you know, start making decisions from tomorrow.
06:48 Now that'll be speaking about it with staff. I'm sure in this will be in and around it
06:52 as well. Obviously, director of this as well. I scared for this very second, but yeah, head
06:58 of football operation. Yeah, those talks will happen. I'm sure they've existed in Carlos
07:04 Corbijn's head for six months, probably longer. He's had, you know, if we don't get promoted,
07:09 which is the likely outcome, then, you know, X, Y, Z, offer contracts to X and Y. But yeah,
07:15 those talks will officially ground what I suppose a training ground tomorrow and players
07:20 will find out in due course, I suppose, in the early part of the week, you would imagine
07:25 when they become public. We'll see. Obviously, that's what the club's prerogative and how
07:29 they want to work with that. But yeah, you know, things to sort out ASAP. I said to Carlos,
07:35 many, many players out of contract. This is potentially big change this summer, isn't
07:39 it? As we all expect. And I said that now we sadly know the lay of the land, the outcome
07:45 of the season. Now's the time to talk and make those decisions for the benefit and almost,
07:50 I think, for the rebuild of the club. Certainly Carlos Corbijn's first squad, really, you
07:56 could say.
07:57 Yeah, big decisions to come, but ultimately a disappointing evening for Albion. I'm sure
08:03 the, well, the pundits have got their final they've been talking about all week and they
08:07 want that. So there's one positive, at least for some people.
08:09 Well, it's a good job Southampton made it because they certainly thought they knew they'd
08:13 made it before kick-off. No shortage of confidence, but that's the way it goes.
08:18 No one more confident than guys saying playoff final, flags outside. So hats off to them.
08:22 But final score here at St Mary's, Southampton 3 Albion 0. Disappointing, but there we go.
08:28 We'll be back next week with the baggage broadcast. But until then, from St Mary's, goodbye.