With the preceding friendly games played by West Brom all fairly lacklustre, the Baggies earned a credible draw in their final pre-season game and annual showpiece against last season`s seventh place finishers in La Liga, Real Mallorca.
Mowbray employed the 4-5-1 formation that it is predicted he will use against Arsenal against the Emirates in a week. New signings Carson and Cech made their Hawthorns bows, with the rest of the team stocked with first-teamers.
RCD Mallorca dominated the first half, and Cameroon international Pierre Webo scored the goal (26) that their dominance deserved. The only other incident of the a first 45 devoid of any serious goalmouth action was an injury to Neil Clement in the 13th minute – his substitute, Pele, was largely at fault for the goal, which new goalie Carson could do nothing about, as Webo drove home from 15-yards after getting goal-side of the Cape Verde Islander.
The second half saw the introduction of Bednar for Kim to partner Miller up front. Playing a 4-4-2, the team had much more cohesion than in the first half. It was the substitute Bednar who scored the equalising goal, coolly rounding Mallorca reserve-keeper Germán Lux after picking up a rebound in the 51st minute. Miller and Bednar linked well and each set up a chance for the other in the 20 minutes after the goal, but both were squandered. In the second half, Kiely, who replaced Carson at half time, didn`t have a save to make.
All in all an encouraging performance from the Albion, who played a full-strength side and also gave run outs to Dorrans, Hodgkiss and Craig Beattie, who has notched several goals in during the pre-season. Robert Koren & Luke Moore missed out through injury, but the pairing of Miller and Bednar looked like an effective combination up front in the second half. Pele didn`t look on the pace, and hopefully Clemmo`s injury won`t be too serious.
More News: Tininho Released
In other news, Portuguese full-back Tininho was released from the club today with a view to him joining Portuguese club Leixões on a free transfer. The Mozambique-born player made three appearances for the Baggies after joining for a quarter of million pounds last summer, and was loaned out to Barnsley in January. Playing second fiddle to Robinson last season, his chances would have been extremely limited with the additions of Cech and Zuiverloon for the coming campaign.
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