West Brom player ratings vs Birmingham: 10/10 for Max O'Leary but 3/10 teammate betrays golden rule

West Bromwich Albion were beaten 1-0 by Birmingham City on Saturday.

Albion's winless run in the Championship has now extended to three games.

Birmingham took the lead on 41 minutes after August Priske converted from the penalty spot.

The good news for James Morrison is that his side can quickly put this defeat right with an away trip to Wrexham on Tuesday night.

But after some mixed performances across the pitch, the Baggies boss will have some tough selection calls to make in Wales.

West Brom News rates every Albion player who featured against Birmingham out of 10.

Max O'Leary cements top Championship goalkeeper status vs Birmingham

If there was one player who didn't deserve to be on the losing side on Saturday, it was West Brom goalkeeper Max O'Leary.

The 30-year-old has been superb all season, and has already won his team a number of points with his multi-save performances.

He banked another one against Blues, with his first big save to deny Jay Stansfield's stretching effort from yards out just six minutes into the game.

Then came one of the saves of the season so far, as the Irish international flew to his right to deny Phil Neumann's bouncing header.

As he has done all season, O'Leary kept West Brom in the game and gave his comrades every chance to take something from it, which they couldn't.

Unfortunately, there's only one real Albion player to blame for the reason behind Saturday's defeat.

Nat Phillips punished for moment of madness vs Birmingham

Starting all nine of West Brom's Championship games this season, Nat Phillips has been and is an integral part of Morrison's side.

However, a few more performances like the one he put in against Blues may serve to change that.

It was he who conceded the penalty which enabled Brum to take all three points, and the manner in which he gave it away is indefensible.

After closely marking Priske, Phillips inexplicably wanders away from the Blues striker and towards the edge of the box.

Birmingham then throw a cross into the box which has Phillips scrambling back to the now-unmarked Priske, who is set to have a free header on goal.

The Albion defender grabs hold of the Dane's shirt and spins him to the deck in a desperate attempt to stop him, giving referee no Gavin Ward no choice.

Phillips was poor in his aerial duels on Saturday too, and was rightly punished for breaking a golden rule of defending: don't switch off in the box.

West Brom player ratings vs Birmingham

Max O'Leary - 10

Callum Styles - 6

Chris Mepham - 8

Nat Phillips - 3

Brayann Pereira - 6

Toby Collyer - 6

Felix Horn Myhre - 5

Rabby Nzingoula - 5

Ousmane Diakite - 7

Aune Heggebo - 4

Jimmy-Jay Morgan - 5

Substitutes

Barney Stewart (for Heggebo, '69) - 5

Isaac Price (for Horn Myhre, '79) - N/A

Harry Whitwell (for Collyer, '80) - N/A