Hope Powell had no complaints after Reading beat Albion 2-0 at the People’s Pension Stadium.
The defeat means Albion can’t progress to the knockout stages of the Continental League Cup.
“Overall they were the better team, they moved the ball a lot quicker than we did and they were better in possession. But in terms of effort and desire we had a go and we created some chances, but they were far more clinical than we were.
"On the night they had the ball more than us, and psychologically when you don’t have the ball as much as your opponents it’s quite damaging.”
Powell rotated her squad after Sunday’s 1-0 win over West Ham United, which gave her an opportunity to assess how certain players are progressing.
“We need to look at players that haven’t had many minutes, Nora Heroum and Kirsty Barton did well. Libby Bance came on again for the last few minutes so that was more good experience for her.
“We changed our formation and tried to match what they were doing and it gave us a chance to prepare differently for future games.”
It was Albion’s last game before the international break, with their next fixture not until 6th December against Spurs.
The break in domestic football may allow key players out including Rebekah Stott and Victoria Williams to recover from injury.
"It would give us a few more options and some depth which we have desperately missed in the last month or so and that’s been a real challenge.
"But I admire the players that have stepped in that have had to play out of position, people like Dani Bowman at centre-half, Maya Le Tissier as well. But we’ll be far better when everyone is fit.”