Mark Noble blamed West Ham United's poor form in front of goal for Saturday's disappointing 1-0 Barclays Premier League defeat at home to Crystal Palace.
Eagles stopper Julian Speroni thrice came to the visitors' rescue before the break, twice denying the lively Mohamed Diame as well as producing a fine reaction stop to claw Andy Carroll's header away from goal.
The Hammers, however, struggled to hit the target thereafter, as Mile Jedinak's 59th-minute spot-kick secured a fifth successive win for Tony Pulis' in-form side.
"I think it was just a case of we didn't score a goal, their 'keeper made a couple of really good saves and we had a couple of chances," Noble told West Ham TV.
"If one of them goes in it's a different game, because obviously they'd have had to come out a little bit more. They came here to sit in and play on the counter and I thought we played really well first half. We just couldn't get the ball in the net.
"You've got to take your chances. That's why we're standing here now and we've lost the game 1-0. If you don't take your chances in this league you get punished. That was happening to us earlier in the season, we drew too many games and we were losing games because we couldn't score goals and that's why we ended up where we were."
Noble's frustrations were compounded by conceding a third penalty in West Ham's last two Boleyn Ground outings, one that he felt rather summed up a turbulent campaign. But far from settling for what they have, the 26-year-old is determined to leave West Bromwich Albion with a positive result next weekend.
He continued: "That's the way the season gone for us this year. It was a blatant penalty, I've seen it on the video, it was a penalty and there's nothing to moan about. It was a sloppy mistake from Pablo, he's an experienced player and Cameron's going nowhere. So it's probably our fault that we didn't take our chances and put ourselves under that pressure.
"West Brom will be [a tough one]. They've been playing well at home and they've not probably got what they deserved, they've been a bit unlucky. We need to go there and be resilient and get the three points."
Saturday's defeat, however, paled into insignificance, with the emotional tribute paid to the late Dylan Tombides prior to kick-off. Noble expressed his heartache at Dylan's passing, albeit grateful for the overwhelming response from players and fans alike.
"I must admit that before the kick-off I got really emotional, when his brother came out," he added. "We knew that Dylan was ill but he never moaned about it once and he kept coming in and having a laugh with the lads. We only saw him two weeks ago. The worst possible thing happened the other night and may he rest in peace.
"To be honest, Tonks [James Tomkins] said to me after the game that it was emotional and I thought the crowd were brilliant, especially on the 38th-minute mark when they cheered for him. It was a lovely gesture for his family and it was just a disappointment that we couldn't get any points for him."