SWINDON 1 WEST BROMWICH ALBION 3
14/07/2018 Pre season friendly
West Brom took part in a friendly match at the County ground Swindon, which was unusual in the fact that it had two 60 minute halves. Darren Moore was happy to give his 22 man squad a longer run out, albeit in extremely hot weather.
Once again Albions new keeper Sam Johnstone was missing and rookies Alex Palmer and Brad House took turns with the gloves. Of the regular first team squad Nacer Chadli and Ahmed Hegazi (both World Cup duty), Keiron Gibbs, Salomon Rondon, Allan Nyom and Sam Field (injured) were missing, with James MacClean and Craig Dawson unavailable for other reasons.
There was a welcome return to action for stalwart Jimmy Morrison, who though out of contract is still training with the squad. The three other players extra to the squad, Keiron Richardson, Martin Crainie and Nigel Reo Coker all featured.
The stand out performers in a well contested affair were Kyle Edwards and Jack Fitzwater, Edwards in particular showing great pace and skill on the ball.
Jake Livermore made a welcome return and Jay Rodriguez showed energy and desire, although linked with a move away from the Hawthorns.
For Swindon Elijah Adebayo gave our rookie centre backs a good work out, indeed he scored the equaliser after JRod had opened the scoring after great work by Edwards and Kane Wilson set him up. Edwards grabbed his goal with a burst of pace, latching on to a defence splitting pass from the elegant Rekeem Harper. Young centre back Kyle Jameson grabbed the third with a towering header from a corner to wrap up the win.
The Baggies eased through the rest of the game, though Swindon rattled the crossbar with a fine strike from distance late on.
Big Dave (Darren Moore) was very pleased with the application and togetherness of the whole squad, especially after a week of intense training in Scotland.
