West Brom produced the ultimate smash and grab as they scored two late goals to consign Liverpool to what might prove to be an extremely costly defeat in their English Premier League game.
Gareth McAuley and Romelu Lukaku scored once each in the final ten minutes of the match, after Liverpool had dominated nearly the entire 90, with Reds skipper Steven Gerrard missing a contentious spotkick just prior to the game's opening goal.
The 2-0 loss will be a huge dent in their plans of challenging for a top-four place, with West Brom going above the home side into eighth. Liverpool are now 12 points adrift of fourth-placed Tottenham, with just 12 matches remaining.
"The players gave everything," Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers told Sky Sports. "It was just one of those games with all those shots that we couldn't make the breakthrough.
"We've been on a terrific run. I'm very disappointed with the goal. That first goal was crucial.
"I can't fault the players, though. We weren't at our best but we were on the front foot for most of the game. It's a good away performance from West Brom.
"If you can keep it to 0-0 you always have a chance. And Ben Foster has made some fantastic saves to keep them in the game. Losing is a big disappointment but we'll be back in tomorrow and get going again."
Rodgers decided to give Jonjo Shelvey the nod, with in-form forward Daniel Sturridge ruled out through injury, and even if Liverpool missed a bit of cutting edge up front, they looked like they were on their way to another comfortable victory.
Possession was pretty much all Liverpool's, and after a series of chances went astray in the first 45 minutes, the home side finally looked like finding a way through as the game opened up with West Brom also looking for that elusive goal.
Luis Suarez, so often Liverpool's rescuer this season, won a penalty after going down rather softly under the challenge of Jonas Olsson. Gerrard, usually so reliable, stepped up, but West Brom goalkeeper Ben Foster, a former Manchester United player, sprang to the left to prevent the ball from nestling into the back of the net.
Then matters went from bad to worse as McAuley headed home from a corner in just West Brom's second shot of the entire game, with Lukaku adding the second via a quick counter-attack, with new signing Philippe Coutinho, making his debut for Liverpool, also not able to make enough of an impact.
"It's not been the best start to the year so it was good to come here and play well," said West Brom manager Steve Clarke, a former assistant at Liverpool. It was a terrific win.
"Things haven't gone our way this year. We've been producing perfectly decent performances but we've not been getting the results. But to come to Anfield and beat a Liverpool team who are probably playing as well as they have all season is great.
"To get that kind of result and level of performance from the players...well, I'm absolutely delighted. They have put in so much effort to get that reward."