Pre-season: Cheltenham Town 1 West Brom 0 - Report
Albion fell to a first defeat of pre-season at Cheltenham Town as the hosts ran out 1-0 winners.
Carlos Corberan's men were unable to deliver a victory in front of travelling fans after behind-closed-doors wins over Port Vale and Shrewsbury Town.
Aidan Keena scored the Robins' winner on the hour, just before Albion made wholesale changes to introduce a bench mostly of under-18s, prior to the friendly at Salford City 24 hours later.
The Baggies were bright in spells and clearly the more threatening side in the opening half. Brandon Thomas-Asante went close on a couple of occasions and Jed Wallace was denied.
Jayson Molumby should have opened the scoring after the break before Keena finished well.
The sides traded possession and openings in the early stages. Defender Semi Ajayi had a couple of bites of the cherry from set-pieces, which returning loanee Alex Mowatt oversaw, with the busy John Swift.
Cheltenham, who finished 16th in League One last season, looked to press Albion into errors and forced one or two bright moments.
But Albion were comfortably the bigger threat to the scoreline. Wallace's stinging effort from distance looked top-corner bound under Luke Southwood's flying save.
A clever pass from Mowatt released Thomas-Asante, Albion's only recognised senior centre-forward, but he was forced wide before testing Southwood with a low effort.
Thomas-Asante looked in good shape and took down a high ball very smartly before a low strike dragged just wide of goal from outside the box.
Jovan Malcolm, the sole youngster in Albion's starting XI, spurned the half's best chance when he sent a clear opening at the far post wide following a lovely move involving Swift and Darnell Furlong.
Midfielder Jayson Molumby should've punished Robins substitute keeper Max Harris just after half-time, but couldn't turn on target from Thomas-Asante's cross after Harris' poor clearance.
Molumby did much better in breaking from halfway and, at the second attempt, saw a low drive well tipped around the post by Harris.
Albion were in charge but the hosts struck the opener on an hour. Ajayi was casual in possession in the Robins' half and saw a pass intercepted. Elliot Bonds sent a lofted ball over Kipre into the path of Keena, and the Irish forward raced in to hammer past Alex Palmer.
The opener was a setback for Albion, who had been set to make a raft of changes on the hour, but Corberan opted to stick with his starting XI for another 10 minutes.
Wholesale changed arrived 20 minutes from time, as half-time sub Andrews went from the youngest in the side to the most experienced in a team full of teens.
Striker Layton Love might have had a penalty in front of the 800-strong away end but referee John Busby waved it away.
Big striker Love fired well off target after picking up space outside the box in the closing stages.
Not involved in Gloucestershire and expected to feature at Salford are David Button, Caleb Taylor, Kyle Bartley, Erik Pieters, Conor Townsend, Taylor Gardner-Hickman, Okay Yokuslu, Matt Phillips, Harry Whitwell, Zac Ashworth, Ethan Ingram and Tom Fellows. Grady Diangana and Reyes Cleary remain injured.
Teams
Cheltenham Town: Southwood (Harris, 45), Long (c), Williams, Bradbury, Freestone, Sercombe, Keena, Olayinka, Lloyd, Bonds.
Cheltenham after 75 mins: Harris; Walters, Davies, Horton; Sambu, Willcox, Adshead, Chapman, Liggett; Street, Olateju.
Albion (4-3-3): Palmer; Furlong (c), Ajayi, Kipre, Reach; Molumby, Mowatt; Wallace, Swift, Malcolm (Andrews, 45); Thomas-Asante.
Albion after 70 mins (4-2-3-1): Cann; Hall, Mohammed, Harper-Bailey, Nelson; Andrews (c), Mfuamba; Williams, Heard, Higgins; Love.
Attendance: 2,015 (848 Albion fans)
Referee: John Busby
