Albion couldn't prevent Manchester City from going top of Premier League 2 after they went down 2-1 on Friday.
Goals from Liam Delap and James McAtee put City, who are unbeaten at home in their last ten games, in control before Teddy Jenks netted a consolation with the last kick of the game.
It was a much-changed Albion side to the one which won 1-0 at Southampton when a sprinkling of first-team squad players including Jayson Molumby and Steven Alzate had been in action.
There was a debut at left-back for Zac Sturge with another under-18, Andrew Moran, on the bench at the City Academy Stadium.
The first 20 minutes or so was pretty even, although when Albion did get into promising attacking positions they couldn't produce a telling final pass to test the home defence.
City, who came into the game on the back of a 7-2 win over Liverpool last Saturday, began to get into their attacking stride with Cole Palmer dragging a shot just wide after a neat one-two with Alex Robertson before Jensen Weir, again deputising in central defence, got back to clear Palmer's shot off the line after Delap and McAtee had combined down the left.
But the home side did break through a minute before the break when Felix Nmecha picked out Delap who fired past Carl Rushworth to score for the fifth successive game.
At the other end City goalkeeper Cieran Slicker got out quickly to deny Danny Cashman at his feet as Albion sought a quick response and Cashman was first to threaten at the start of the second half, making room on the left for a shot which hit the side netting. Romaric Yapi then tested Slicker with a left-foot strike which the City keeper was fully behind.
City doubled their lead on 53 minutes. Nmecha's curler from the left was pushed out by Carl Rushworth and, although the keeper blocked Delap's follow-up, he couldn't prevent McAtee from scoring from point-blank range.
McAtee nearly had a second when he fired inches wide from outside the box while Cashman blazed over the target after getting his angles wrong, but in the closing stages it was the hosts who looked more likely to extend their lead with Rushworth denying Delap and McAtee and Palmer firing over from a great position.
Albion kept going though and there was a late twist when midfielder Jenks feinted past Luke Mbeke on the edge of the box before firing past Slicker for his third goal of the season, but it was a consolation for Albion.
The under-23s are back in action on 14th December when they travel to Derby County.
Albion: Rushworth, Tanimowo (Vukoje 77), Weir, Tsoungui, Sturge (Moran 65), Yapi, Leonard, Jenks, Packham (Furlong 65), Spong, Cashman.
Subs not used: Desbois, Ella.