Baggies boss wants lesson to be learned

Albion boss Roberto Di Matteo will today tell his players they must learn the lessons from their pre-season scare at Walsall.

Defensive frailties by the Baggies saw the Saddlers claim a 2-0 lead through Dwayne Mattis and trialist Matt Richards.

And, although the Baggies levelled through Luke Moore and a Craig Beattie penalty, Di Matteo reckons the game showed up the need for further improvement in his side.

"It was an interesting game," said the Italian. "It was good to see because you learn more from these sort of games, when things don't go your way.

"I learned that we've got a lot of work ahead of us and I learned certain things about a few players in certain positions so it was interesting.

"It's pre-season and we're still working hard inbetween the games. It was the second game in three days so I wasn't expecting my players to be sharp but we could see the kind of physicality we will encounter in the Championship and the sort of presence we will encounter.

"We have to deal with that. The way they played is a bit different and it's probably very similar to the way quite a few Championship teams play.

"But we know what's going to happen and we know what to expect. We just have to make sure we learn from it.

"I'm not going to go into details but we will discuss it among ourselves."

Meanwhile, Walsall's Chris Hutchings challenged his side to achieve perfection and has demanded extra improvement.

Despite an impressive performance from the Saddlers, Hutchings wants further progress with the start of the League One season less than two weeks away.

He said: "If we want to go forward then we have to work on everything, the retention of the ball, can we shift the ball quicker and how we defend. It was disappointing to concede goals, especially being in the position we were in, but we were against quality opposition and at some stage they are going to come into the game and have chances.

"We scored some excellent goals but when you make five or six changes at half-time it always disrupts things and the momentum of the first half.

"I was delighted with the outcome and it was played in a good spirit."

Hutchings also had words of comfort for goalscorer Mattis who he revealed was disappointed with his performance.

"Dwayne gave the ball away quite a bit in the first-half but popped up with a goal and he was annoyed with his distribution," he said.

"I said to him the most important thing is you can't hide, you've got to keep looking for the ball and trying to get on it.

"You could have a bad day on the ball but you can pop up and score a goal and still contribute in other ways. I said you've still got to work hard, close down and be in the right areas to stop the opposition playing."

It was the Saddlers' high-tempo pressing game which upset Albion's rhythm on Saturday, with the visitors rarely settling in the opening period.

Richards struck the first warning in the opening minute when Scott Carson saved his angled volley before Luke Moore fired wastefully at Clayton Ince after rolling Mark Hughes. Robert Koren toe-poked an effort beyond Ince but saw Hughes clear before Ince stopped Moore again after 20 minutes.

Koren was having a personal duel with Ince but failed to beat the keeper with his long-range efforts as the opening half looked destined to end goalless until two quickfire strikes from the Saddlers.

A minute before the break Richard Taundry's deep cross saw Richards head down to Mattis to squeeze home from six yards.

Ninety seconds later it was 2-0 when Nicholls' determination saw him burst past Jonas Olsson and, when the ball fell to Richards, the former Ipswich man curled a delightful effort beyond Carson from 20 yards.

So far so good for the Saddlers but Albion emerged with renewed purpose and pulled a goal back just after the hour. Chris Brunt's swirling ball from deep found Moore who brushed off the attentions of Manny Smith and blasted past Gilmartin from 10 yards for his third goal in four pre-season games.

Tails up, Albion pressed with Simon Cox and Brunt both going close before they equalised three minutes from time.

Filipe Teixiera found Moore in an offside position but, with no flag forthcoming, the striker streaked clear before being felled by Gilmartin and Beattie did the honours from the spot.