Kenneth Zohore grabs a brace for West Brom under-23s
Ahmed Hegazi and Kenneth Zohore stepped up their recoveries from injury by starting for Albion’s under-23s against Swansea.
In a Premier League 2 clash held at The Hawthorns tonight – the duo staked a claim to return to Slaven Bilic’s starting XI for the trip to Stoke on Monday, with Zohore netting a brace in a 2-0 win.
Under the guidance of under-23 caretaker manager Deon Burton, Albion named a strong side well fellow first-teamers Rekeem Harper, Chris Willock, Chris Brunt and Kyle Edwards all featuring.
Lining up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, Hegazi – who is returning to fitness after undergoing ankle surgery in the summer – was partnered by Dara O’Shea at the heart of the defence.
Zohore – who is working his way back from a calf problem – lined up as the lone striker with Ryan Tulloch in the number 10 role, Edwards on the left-wing and Willock on the right.
Against what was a young and inexperienced Swansea side, Albion dominated the first half right from kick-off – with Brunt controlling proceedings from the middle of the park.
Zohore almost opened the scoring in the opening five minutes when he pounced on a loose ball in the box before firing straight at Josh Gould in the Swans' goal.
A rampant Albion then saw Brunt, Tulloch and Willock go close before Zohore had two ‘goals’ disallowed in quick succession.
First, the striker was judged to be offside when he tapped in following a low cross from Harper.
A flowing move then saw Brunt find Willock with a back-heel with the Benfica loanee sending in another low delivery.
And it was tapped home by Zohore – with the linesman very harshly judging him to be offside.
After the break, though, the striker did get his goals.
He opened the scoring just before the hour mark, heading in a deep O’Shea cross.
The former Cardiff man then quickly added a second when he latched on to an excellent pass from Harper before finding the bottom corner.
For Hegazi the evening was a lot more comfortable.
The centre-back has already featured for Egypt this month and also came off the bench in Albion’s win at Middlesbrough.
Here, though, he was barely tested and appeared to stroll through the game with relative ease.
The centre-back mopped up everything he had to in the first-half.
And as the game wore on his passing became a lot crisper with the 28-year-old playing some raking balls forward.
He was tested in stoppage time when, as the last man, Ali Al-Hamadi ran at him at pace. But calmly, Hegazi stepped in to take the ball away from the attacker.
Albion: House, Fitzwater, Harmon, Hegazi, O’Shea, Harper, Willock, (Clayton-Phillips 76), Brunt, Zohore, Tullock (Joule 73), Edwards.
Swansea: Gould, Bevan, Cooper, J Evans, C Evans, Jake Thomas (Butlet 54), Jack Thomas, De Boer (Paulet 33), Cullen, K Evans, Walsh (Al-Hamadi 66).
