Bristol Rovers 2 West Brom 1 - Report and pictures

Ellis Harrison's early goal, which came after a piece of sloppy defending from Ahmed Hegazi, was lucky but the Pirates more than held their own against their Premier League visitors and Tom Nichols doubled their lead.

Craig Dawson pulled one back in stoppage time but the hosts claimed a deserved win.

Tony Pulis was joined by his new assistant, fan favourite and former Baggies chief Gary Megson, and witnessed a lack of a cutting edge from his men.

Rovers, who used the fixture as a testimonial for former player Peter Aitken, are the club who gave the Welsh boss his start in professional football, as a player, and they did not take long to go ahead.

It was just the fifth minute when Albion new-boy Hegazi reacted too slowly to an over-the-top ball, and his attempted clearance cannoned off of Harrison and past a helpless Ben Foster.

Keen to make up for a sloppy start, Pulis's charges seemed to be trying a little too hard - being rather careless in possession and putting in a few late challenges.

The Pirates looked pretty assured for the majority of the first half, playing a lot of short and quick passes, but Albion did have a couple of chances to equalise before the break.

Salomon Rondon's effort from distance, after some fancy footwork, rolled wide before James McClean forced a sharp stop from home goalkeeper Sam Slocombe just prior to the half-hour mark.

Before the end of the first period, Chris Brunt limped off with a knock and was replaced by Allan Nyom.

Rovers made five changes at half-time, with the Baggies making none and then waiting until two minutes into the second half to make three substitutions.

Jonathan Leko, Claudio Yacob and Hal Robson-Kanu were the trio introduced, with McClean limping off, and the former's curling effort forced Adam Smith into making a fairly routine save in the 55th minute.

Nacer Chadli then went close with a free-kick on the hour mark, seeing his attempt fly just wide of the near post.

The Belgian nearly scored with another set piece just a few minutes later, after some fine play from Rondon drew a foul, brushing the side netting.

Albion were piling on the pressure and thought they had found a leveller when Rondon headed in after Hegazi's cross, but the assistant referee had raised his flag for offside.

Nichols made it 2-0 to the home side with a low finish after a through-ball before Dawson's header from Chadli's corner.

The Baggies have pre-season friendlies at Port Vale and Deportivo La Coruna left to play before their first league game of the season, at home against Bournemouth, on August 12.

Teams

Bristol Rovers: Slocombe (Smith, 45), Partington (Menayese, 54), Lockyer (c) (J Clarke, 45), Broadbent, Brown (Bola, 45), O Clarke, Sercombe (Broom, 45), Lines, Bodin (Gaffney, 45), Sinclair, Harrison (Nichols, 45)

Albion: Foster, Dawson, Evans (c), Hegazi, Brunt (Nyom, 44), Livermore (Yacob, 47), Field, McClean (Leko, 47), Chadli, Rodriguez (Robson-Kanu, 47), Rondon

Subs not used: Phillips, Palmer (gk)