Jed Wallace believes the Albion should be proud of their achievements in 2023/24 despite the disappointment of missing out on a spot in the Sky Bet Championship Play-Off final.
The Baggies suffered a 3-1 defeat at Southampton on Friday night, a result which brought their campaign and promotion hopes to an end.
The skipper says the performance wasn’t one which lacked “effort”, insisting the Saints were simply the better team and the one which took their chances at St Mary's Stadium.
Wallace accepts this particular feeling will linger, but was keen to mention several reasons why everyone associated with the club should feel positive.
Jed said: “There certainly wasn’t a lack of effort tonight, I just don’t think we got going in the final third.
“Credit to them, they pressed us really well and they've got some really good players.
“We knew that the first goal against them is so important because of how well they keep the ball. They’ve capitalised on a mistake and the lad has took the goal well. It’s a good finish.
“They got another one when we were trying to get back in the game.
“We had a lot of chances in the home game and we probably should’ve taken at least one of them. Coming here, the aim was to frustrate them. The longer the game went on with the score at 0-0, the more I fancied us.
“As I said, the first goal against them is massive and on the night they were just the better team.
“In the first game I thought we were the better team and tonight they were the better team who took their chances and we didn’t.
“They were expected to right up there at the start of the year. We weren’t. We can take a lot of pride from what we’ve achieved this season under an unbelievable manager and a great staff.
“We’ve got a new ownership and the fans are right behind us.
“There’ll be disappointment for a while because of the opportunity we could have had to get to where we want to get to, but there’s certainly a lot to look forward to.
“The fans stuck with us until the end and they were brilliant at the end with us.
“It doesn’t happen often that away fans stick right until the end, especially after a 3-1 defeat. There was probably only about 50 empty seats left at the end.
“They’ve followed us in unbelievable numbers this season, even when our away form hasn’t been great. It’s something we really appreciate.
“Carlos has brought the club together and the group of players have followed. The fans have done the same. We can move forward together.”
