Steve Bruce frustrated 'sloppy' West Brom couldn't reward travelling fans
Steve Bruce was frustrated 'sloppy' Albion could not reward the 2,000 travelling faithful with Carabao Cup progression at Derby.
The Baggies exited the competition at the second hurdle at the League One Rams courtesy of Louie Sibley's early goal on a frustrating evening at Pride Park.
For the second time in the competition this term Bruce named a second-string side full of squad players and youngsters and Albion were competitive in an even first half - but once more wasteful in front of goals having created decent openings.
The visitors - who head to Huddersfield in the Championship on Saturday - struggled to get going in the second period and only tested Derby late on after the introduction from the bench of a few attacking regulars.
Bruce likened the second round tie to a testimonial rather than a cup clash.
"It's a disappointment that we're out of the cup," Bruce said. "We knew that it'd be a gamble to play as many kids, and also the players who needed to play. It was always in the back of my mind that you run that risk.
"I still think we created enough chances again. We didn't play particularly great, but we should've been 2-0 in the first three minutes.
"I come in front of you all and that's the frustration for me, is that we're sloppy. We're not clinical enough, and it niggles away at me constantly. We've created enough but we've not managed to take them."
He continued: "The game was too slow at times. It was like a testimonial, never mind a cup tie. As you can probably tell, I don't like getting beat, especially in the manner which we have done.
"We were not good enough. We were too sloppy. We can't keep making that the excuse. It happens too often."
Albion were backed by a strong following of 2,100 at Pride Park but supporters had to suffer another early League Cup exit.
"We've got a huge support here who want to see the big players play," Bruce added. "With the schedule we've got, the strategy even from a couple of weeks ago was to play the young ones, let's see how they go and give them the experience. Also to play the ones who haven't been playing.
"Hence the results in the last round, and I haven't seen the results tonight but I bet there were a few more shocks. The schedule is ridiculous. Yes we wanted to progress in the cup and go on a bit of a run, especially when we have 2,500 who have made the trip.
"We thank them, but we haven't done enough to get into the next round."
Asked for a transfer update as Bruce and Albion continue to work on forward reinforcement and one or two other positions, the manager replied: "Through you, through the supporters, we're bashing away, we're trying as hard as we can."
