Hull City manager Steve Bruce felt his side's 1-0 loss at West Brom was "cruel" after a key mistake cost his team on Saturday.
Saido Berahino's 78th-minute goal proved decisive at The Hawthorns, with the striker firing home after being teed up following the award of an indirect free kick.
Ahmed Elmohamady's backpass to goalkeeper Allan McGregor was the cause of the free kick, and Bruce admitted such mistakes will go punished at the highest level.
On the error, Bruce said: "The game looked like it had 0-0 written all over it and we were so comfortable defensively that it is a frustration to lose the game with a misunderstanding like we have.
"It is cruel on us, but that is the nature of it if you make mistakes like that at this level -- and it is one of those comical ones.
"He [Elmohamady] doesn't need to touch it, and you could say the goalkeeper doesn't need to come out for it. It is that split-second where there is a lack of communication, and unfortunately we have been punished."
Hull suffered a double setback in the first half as frontmen Nikica Jelavic (knee) and Abel Hernandez (groin) were forced off having joined the club's already-lengthy injury list.
Bruce -- whose side slipped to 17th, above the drop zone on goal difference alone -- said: "Jelavic hurt the knee that was operated on two months ago. It is not like him to come off, so there's something wrong.
"He felt it a bit yesterday, but wanted to play. We do fear it is something niggling away -- we just hope it's not a recurrence of the previous injury."