West Brom head coach Tony Mowbray will assess whether he keeps faith with Joe Wildsmith, after the goalkeeper’s error gifted Sunderland a 1-0 win at The Hawthorns in the Sky Bet Championship.
Trai Hume’s 36th-minute free-kick evaded the grasp of Wildsmith to give the Black Cats their second successive win and leave Albion with consecutive defeats.
It left Sunderland fourth in the table and dented Albion’s hopes of moving into the top six.
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.
“The goalkeeper acknowledged he made a pretty bad mistake which cost us a goal which ultimately cost us the game.
“But that’s the job as a goalkeeper. It’s frustrating because that becomes the narrative.
“With the chances we had and the situations we got into, you have to put the ball in the net.”
It was Wildsmith’s second major error after his mistake cost a goal at Burnley.
“We’ve been here before but I’ll see what he’s like in training and see how he reacts,” said the head coach.
“It’s very naive 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.
“But the responsibility of the team is to score some goals in a game we were on top of for most of it.”
Sunderland head coach Regis Le Bris praised the character of his team after Albion missed several chances.
He said: “I wanted to reinforce the idea of mindset within the team because they were really well connected and won many duels and our team spirit was impressive again.
“They put many bodies in the box and they tried different options to create situations but we defended well.
“Until the end we were on the edge but the mentality of the team is getting better – you can feel it now.
“Probably three or four months ago we would have lost that game and we’ve lost many points in these circumstances, so this was positive.”
It was left-back Hume’s second successive 1-0 winner after his strike against Millwall last week.
“When you have a left-back score it’s very positive for the team,” added Le Bris. “If they are connected like that, everyone can score.
“For the last two games, Trai has been really important, and for the next fixture, other players will be able to score.”
Le Bris says Hume’s set-pieces are a welcome but surprise addition to Sunderland’s armoury.
“It’s a new layer in his profile. He’s really well balanced and if he can add this ability to his game, it changes his profile towards the next level,” he added.
“Trai is a warrior – even if he has an injury he wants to play.”
Hume’s goal came when he curled the ball into the top corner from a free-kick out wide.
Albion created chances galore but Darnell Furlong’s volley was blocked on the goalline, Jayson Molumby missed a free header and goalkeeper Anthony Patterson tipped away Kyle Bartley’s header. Substitute Daryl Dike also headed over from inside the six-yard box.
