Darren Moore delighted with 'perfect workout' from 120-minute friendly
It may have been unorthodox but Darren Moore was delighted with the ‘perfect workout’ his squad got from playing two 60-minute halves at Swindon.
Albion won 3-1 at the County Ground on Saturday thanks to goals from Jay Rodriguez, Kyle Edwards, and Kyle Jameson.
Edwards, who bagged his second goal in two pre-season friendlies, was the brightest spark during 120 minutes of football and the 20-year-old is giving Moore plenty of food for thought ahead of the coming season.
But Albion’s boss described the routine win over League Two opposition, which followed up a 3-0 victory over National League Barnet last week, as just the ‘icing on the cake’.
He was pleased with the extra time his players got on the pitch, three weeks ahead of the Championship season starting.
“We splitted it up into two 60 minutes because I thought players needed a longer hit,” said Moore. “I didn’t want just 45 minutes for them.
“We wanted to get the group of players more time on the pitch and a lot of them got between 60 and 75 minutes in.
"Swindon were very good and it was a perfect work-out coming off the back of our training camp in Scotland. Hopefully it was beneficial for both teams.”
There were still plenty of notable absentees, like James McClean and Craig Dawson, who are agitating for moves.
Hal Robson-Kanu and Allan Nyom were also absent, while Kieran Gibbs, Salomon Rondon and Sam Field were all nursing injuries.
But there was a welcome return to action for James Morrison, who completed 50 minutes after nearly 10 months out, and Albion picked up no fresh injury concerns despite the warm temperature.
“It’s not always about results in pre-season, it’s about getting minutes ahead of the start of the season,” said Moore.
“It’s about the messages we want to give them on shape. You have an opportunity to try different formations, that is what pre-season is for. The scoreline is just the icing on the cake.
“The seniors did superb to talk the young players through the game, and the youngsters brought energy and guile to proceedings.
“I’m really pleased with how things are shaping up. Everything at the moment is looking good for August 4.”
Edwards wasn’t the only youngster to impress; Jack Fitzwater also looked assured in defence.
Moore also gave minutes to free agents Martin Cranie, Kieran Richardson and Nigel Reo-Coker.
