Ryan Mason believes Albion deserved to reach round two of the Carabao Cup and says he's incredibly disappointed with the outcome of the tie.
The Baggies were leading 1-0 against Derby County up until the final minute of second-half added time thanks to Aune Heggebø's first strike for his new club.
However, Joe Ward curled a free-kick from a tight angle into the top corner to force penalties in the dying stages.
The Rams claimed a 3-2 triumph in the shootout, meaning Mason's men exited in the opening round.
The boss said: “The overall feeling is disappointment, but we can’t take away from the overall performance, which I thought was excellent.
“We fully deserved to win the game. I don’t remember our keeper having a save to make up until pretty much the last kick of the game.
“It hurts because we wanted to win – we were desperate to win at our stadium in front of our fans.
“It wasn’t meant to be tonight. Football can be harsh at times and I thought that was harsh on us tonight.
“The emotions are high at the moment, but the performance was there and we deserved more from the game. If we play that game ten times, we probably win it nine times.
“We’re disappointed and it hurts, but we have to go again on Saturday.
“Stuff like that happens in penalty shootouts. You have to show personality to take one. We had that, and unfortunately, it didn’t go our way tonight.”
