It was a disappointing return to the dugout for Albion boss Hope Powell as her team were defeated by Reading in the Continental Cup.
Powell and her assistant Amy Merricks were back on the touchline for the first time since having to self-isolate, but a goal either side of half-time was enough for the Royals to take all three points from the tie at the People’s Pension Stadium and progress to the knockout stages.
Kayleigh Green mustered Albion's first shot of the game after ten minutes when she drilled well wide from 20-yards after being picked out by Aileen Whelan.
Fliss Gibbons looked set to give Albion the lead five minutes later when she was smartly played in by Emily Simpkins to put her one-on-one with Grace Moloney. The former Millwall player struck her low effort past the keeper, but Molly Bartrip put in a superb block to send it behind for a corner.
The visitors took the lead though as the game approached the half-hour mark, with Natasha Harding smartly nodding in at the near post from Rachel Rowe’s cross from the right after Reading broke from deep in their own half.
Danique Kerkdijk went close to an assist after charging run up field from centre-back. After playing a smart one-two with Nora Heroum on the edge of the box, the Netherlands international swung in a lovely cross from the left across the edge of the six-yard area, but there was nobody there to meet it.
Lee Geum-min was then guilty of missing a glorious opportunity in first half stoppage time when Green found the striker 12 yards out with the goal at her mercy, but she sent her first time strike over the crossbar.
Whelan looked as if she had done enough to get Albion back on level terms in the 64th minute when she got in front of Moloney to nod over the keeper from Green's cross, but the midfielder’s effort landed on the roof of the net.
The Royals doubled their lead with 72 minutes gone as Lauren Bruton found Amalie Eikeland in the box, and she fired home emphatically from ten yards.
Whelan nearly halved the deficit when she hammered an effort at goal from 12 yards, beating Moloney but not the woodwork as the ball cannoned back down off the underside of the bar.
Albion line-up: Fiskerstrand, Barton, Kerkdjik, Le Tissier, Gibbons, Simpkins (Kaagman 64), Bowman (O’Sullivan 57), Whelan (Bance 90+3), Heroum, Green, Lee (Jarrett 57).
Unused subs: Walsh, Stott, Brazil, Longhurst, Nokuthula.