ALBION reserves conceded penalties at either end of the game as they were beaten 3-0 by Leicester City at The Hawthorns.

The Baggies fielded a side containing four senior pros but Bostjan Cesar was removed from the original starting XI and left out altogether,

Youngster James Hancox slotted in at centre-half, with Ashley Holmes taking his place on the bench.

The Baggies found themselves a goal down as early as the ninth minute when a long crossfield ball from the left found Gabor Bori and he burst into the box.

Tininho challenged the Foxes midfielder and appeared to get a touch on the ball but the referee awarded a spot-kick, which Reniel Sappleton slotted home to Michal Danek's right.

Ten minutes later Lateef Elford-Alliyu found Josh Knight down the left and he cut inside before firing a right-foot shot just wide of the far post.

A game of little action eventually saw Tininho find Sherjill MacDonald down the left and he rounded former Baggie James Chambers before bursting into the area and firing in a low six-yard shot from an acute angle.

Ben Alnwick took the pace off the Albion ace's strike with his legs but the City goalkeeper needed Lathanial Rowe-Turner to clear the ball of the goalline.

Six minutes before the break a neat interchange of passes between MacDonald and Elford-Alliyu resulted in MacDonald chipping the ball to the back post where Knight and David Worrall both came within inches of sliding it in.

MacDonald was in the action again in the 55th minute as he picked the ball up on the halfway line and bundled his way past four challenges before shooting wide of the left-hand upright from just outside the box.

Two minutes later MacDonald crossed for substitute Ricky Nicholls, whose shot cannoned off a Leicester defender and raised cries of handball from the hosts that were dismissed.

Jared Hodgkiss pounced on the rebound but fired straight at Alnwick.

Eight minutes from time Gary Breen's clearance fell to Ryan Beswick and he squared for Andy King, who struck an 18-yard shot past Danek to double the visitors' lead.

And Breen's night went from bad to worse in the 86th minute when he inexplicably handled the ball from a cross to give Zsolt Laczko the chance to fire home the second penalty of the night to Danek's left.

ALBION (4-4-2): Danek; Hodgkiss, Breen, Hancox (Holmes 78), Tininho; MacDonald, Labadie (Nicholls HT), Worrall, Compton; Knight (Samuels HT), Elford-Alliyu. Subs not used: Pike, Saied.

LEICESTER (4-4-2): Alnwick; Chambers, A King (Beswick 60), Worley, Mattock (Magunda 60); Bori, Rowe-Turner, Kishishev, Laczko; Sappleton (Cox 79), C King. Subs not used: Petney.

REFEREE: R Fletcher

ATTENDANCE: 224

ALBION STARMAN: Sherjill MacDonald.