Premier League: Alan Irvine admits West Brom must learn to win after home defeat by West Ham

Alan Irvine says West Brom need to start taking their chances after their 2-1 defeat to West Ham - their fourth straight loss in the Premier League.

West Brom took the lead at The Hawthorns, before conceding two goals in 20 minutes to leave them 16th in the Premier League table after 14 games. While the home side had 23 efforts on goal in total, they could only convert one.

Irvine said: "I’ve just said to the lads that it isn’t good. It’s great on one hand to be able to say well played, but we have to find a way to win. It’s a second half where we’ve been really dominant and had lots of chances but we have to take one of them. If you do take, if you take it early enough you can give it a go."

Craig Dawson’s 10th-minute header was the Midlands club’s first goal in 370 minutes, but goals from man of the match Kevin Nolan and centre-back James Tomkins in the 20 minutes prior to half-time left them even nearer to the drop zone.

He added: "The effort that the lads put into the second half was fantastic, we tried nearly everything but we gave ourselves a mountain to climb because of a 20 minute spell in the first half. We went from being in control of the game, having had a good start, to being a little bit nervous.

"It was one of those where you want half-time to come in order to settle people down and put a few things right. We did that, but we were doing it from 2-1 down rather than at least being level."

The Scot has had a strained relationship with the Baggies support since taking over during the summer, although England boss Roy Hodgson has urged the fans to be patient. Hodgson was Albion manager for a year prior to taking the international job in 2012.

"We have to reinforce the positives; they were there at the start of the game. We started in exactly the way we had prepared. I don’t know why but after one or two little mistakes, people got nervous," Irvine said.

His side travel to Hull at the weekend with Irvine hoping to reverse a trend that has seen them collect just four points from their last 18.