We were beaten by the better side - Pulis

A double from Pascal Gross and a header from Tomer Hemed put Brighton 3-0 up, before James Morrison bagged a consolation late on for the Baggies.

Gross scored either side of half-time and Pulis said afterwards: "There's all sorts of excuses I could make but let's just say Brighton were better than us and keep it at that.

"To concede a goal 30 seconds before half-time and a minute after half-time is a real kick in the goolies for you.

"It gave them a massive lift but in the first half, to be fair, they were the better team. But apart from the shot that came off Ben (Foster) and the lad tapped in which was offside, Ben didn't really have a lot to do.

"We didn't do much going the other way, apart from Gareth Barry's effort which the keeper makes a great save off. The second goal is a poor goal and kills us, then going 3-0 down was the icing on the cake, I thought, for what we'd done.

"Then we livened up, got the goal and played better in the last 20 minutes.

"They scored goals at the right time and goals change games. If we'd scored the first goal, it might have been a different game but full credit to them, they've got the three points.

"I don't want to be here making excuses and taking anything away from Brighton."