West Brom Pre-season Review Continued

Three more friendly fixtures and still no wins for Mowbray`s men. Here is a brief summary of the matches played since the first game of the preseason tour to Germany.
1. FC Koln 4 – 1 WBA

After defeat to Borussia Mönchengladbach in the first game of a two-match trip, The Baggies were defeated by a much heavier score line by their second Bundesliga opponents of the week. All the signs pointed to new defenders as Cologne scored four goals without reply, past Michal Danek in the first half and Luke Daniels in the second. Craig Beattie got the Albion consolation late on and there was no place in the squad for the new trio of Carson, Cech or the Olympics-bound Zuiverloon.

Shrewsbury 2 – 2 WBA

Still no sign of the new boys, and again the Albion found themselves up against it early in the second half, conceding a quick double salvo from Shrews hitman Grant Holt with only a classic Clem set-piece framework rattler to show for their efforts. Unlike the last tour match however, and against significantly lower-calibre opposition, the Baggies fought back, first through a Kim Do-Heon thunderbolt (74) before James Morrison rattled in a 20-yard equaliser 6 minutes from time.

Cheltenham 1 – 1 WBA

The first outing in the stripes for both Marek Cech and Scott Carson and both impressed. Cech scored the Baggies only goal, a hugely deflected 20-yard shot (20), and defended soundly, and whilst Carson was relatively untested for the 45 minutes he played, he did make a reactionary double save just before half-time. His replacement, Luke Daniels, could do little about Dave Bird`s 79th minute equaliser.


Despite no victories in the four games so far, Mowbray has given playing time to a huge selection of the squad, from the youngsters such as Aliyu, Worrall and Dorrans, fringe-players like Tininho and Slusarski as well as watching the new and old boys in action. Preparations for the new season are now well underway, and Mowbray must be getting an idea of the 11 to line-up at the Emirates at 12.15 on Saturday 16th August.

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