'I take responsibility ... we've lost too many games' - Ryan Mason owns up to struggling West Brom goal-shy form

A visibly emotional Mason insisted he was not interested in talking about other aspects of the performance, in which his team delivered more attacking threat than in recent weeks but still drew yet another blank.

Mason underlined that the buck stops with him with the winless run of four games for the 14th-placed Baggies.

Mason said after the last-gasp defeat: "Obviously it's a painful way to lose a game.

"I think I can speak so much and say so much about the performance, about the game we played, the chances we created, the opportunities we had. But the reality is we've lost the game of football and we've lost too many games of football at this moment in time.

"So that's the overriding reflection of the game we've lost. The responsibility is mine - absolutely, because I can see and I can feel a group of players that are giving everything, they're committed, they're there.

"So I can't question that. I certainly can't question that. So it's down to me to to change it and change the situation we're in and get more out of them and give them more.

Isaac Price and Samuel Iling-Junior spurned chances as wasteful Albion once again cut a blunt and goal-shy outfit lacking in confidence in the final third. It was the fourth time in six Albion have failed to net.

Mason made a formation change and his side seemed better for it with an improved performance on Saturday's limp show against Sheffield Wednesday, but the visitors left themselves open for a late punch in the gut in south east London.

Carey's 95th-minute winner deflected off defender Chris Mepham, who had been introduced as a stoppage-time substitute by Mason, and squirmed under the body of goalkeeper Josh Griffiths to the delight of locals inside The Valley. Griffiths had earlier saved a first-half penalty from Greg Docherty.

"This is football at a high level - which isn't the highest level - but it's an extremely high level," Mason said when asked about Griffiths after the winner had wriggled through.

"I'm never going to sit here and dig a player out because Josh has been brilliant. He made a penalty save today and he's growing. It's a team thing. It's all of us.

"Like I say, when we lose games it's certainly my responsibility. I've got a group of players that are coming in every day. They're working, they're giving me everything and I can feel that. I need to protect that.

"But at the moment, that's not enough because we're not winning games of football. So I need to find a way to to get more out of them, to give them more, to give them more help to try to change the situation we're in."

The Baggies welcome lowly Oxford to The Hawthorns on Saturday for the final game before the international break.