Ryan Mason reveals fresh West Brom injury woes as Daryl Dike misses out in ‘disappointing’ defeat to Lincoln City

Albion conceded twice inside the opening three minutes of play as they were beaten 4-2 at Sincil Bank.

Forward Aune Heggebo started for the Baggies while new signing George Campbell featured from the bench alongside Josh Maja, who has recently returned to training. 

But Daryl Dike, who started for the Baggies at Blackpool last weekend, was missing from the squad, alongside Ousmane Diakite.

Albion boss Mason revealed why the pair were absent, saying: “Dike has had a lot of games this pre-season so far and felt a tightness, so we held on the side of caution today.

“Ousmane got a knock on the side of his ankle midweek, so hopefully he will be okay.”

The loss followed defeats to Blackpool last weekend and Fulham behind-closed-doors last Tuesday.

Mason was disappointed with his side’s performance in what was Albion’s penultimate pre-season game ahead of the new Championship campaign.

Asked what his assessment of the game was, Mason said: “Not very good. The start was really poor, that is something that we need to fix and understand why it has happened.

“It is twice in the two away games that this type of things has happened, we need to fix it.

“It’s a disappointing day, it’s the third game in the week which is good for the lads to get in their legs but there is a lot of stuff to work on.”

In a disastrous start to proceedings, Albion conceded twice inside the opening three minutes of play.

Jovon Makama supplied Lincoln the lead after just 45-seconds, turning home at close range from a corner, before he added a second with a brilliant strike on the two-and-a-half minute mark. 

Speaking on the early goals, Mason added: “It’s the reality of football, we don’t deal with the first long ball, then we concede from the corner. 

“That is something that we need to fix, we need to come up with a solution to help the players as much as possible.”