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Pre-season: Scunthorpe 0 West Brom 4 - Report

New Albion chief Slaven Bilic is a manager not afraid to speak his mind, and whatever he said to his Baggies players at the interval at Scunthorpe worked a treat.

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Slaven Bilic (AMA)

After failing to impose their will in the first half at Glanford Park, they found themselves three to the good just six minutes after the restart.

The goals came courtesy of a Matt Phillips brace either side of Filip Krovinovic's composed finish, and were seemingly a result of some stern words from the Croatian in the dressing room.

The Iron's utter disregard for defending in those moments helped matters no end too, though.

What will have pleased Bilic, who grabbed his first official win as Albion boss in the process, was that they firmly capitalised on Scunthorpe's switch-off before Hal Robson-Kanu's goal wrapped up a comfortable win over the League Two outfit.

New signings Kenneth Zohore and Semi Ajayi, snapped up from Cardiff and Rotherham respectively, each got 30 minutes under their belt as well.

Conor Townsend was captain against his old club.

Kieran Gibbs was missing from the squad because of a knock and had gone to see a specialist.

The game began at typical pre-season pace, with the home side having the lion's share of possession.

And they should have taken an early lead, but former Wolves man Adam Hammill – unmarked – could only head wide after a peach of a cross from Yann Songo'o.

The Baggies' midfield made up of Krovinovic, Sam Field and Jake Livermore struggled to make their presence felt in the opening half an hour. Songo'o and John McAtee looked sharp for the Iron though.

Phillips was the brightest for Bilic's charges in the first half, guiding an outside-the-foot effort over the bar and forcing Rory Watson into action with another strike.

But he was the only one who posed any threat going forward, meaning 0-0 at half-time was a fair reflection on proceedings.

However, Albion found their feet for the start of the second period, and the floodgates opened.

Phillips continued to shine and opened the scoring, guiding the ball into the bottom corner after Townsend's low delivery from the left flank.

He then headed in from close range – Kyle Edwards with the assist – just after Krovinovic coolly poked the ball past Watson in the Scunthorpe net.

Edwards should have also got in on the act, being denied by Watson, before a raft of Baggies changes on the hour mark, with fresh faces Zohore and Ajayi among the six introduced.

Another one of the total of 10 players to come on was Robson-Kanu, and he swept home Townsend's drilled ball across the face of goal 10 minutes from the final whistle.

On making his Baggies bow, defender Ajayi, whose signing was announced only a few hours before the match said: "It was great to pull on the shirt for the first time.

"I'm still learning names, so it was a bit hard to communicate. I was just shouting 'oi' and stuff like that.

"I enjoyed it. A win and a clean sheet, it was good."

Striker Zohore, signed from the Bluebirds for a fee which could rise to £8million with add-ons, shared a similar view.

"This was my first day with the team, so it was kind of weird," he added.

"But it was good to be out there and be back playing."

Preparation for the Championship continues as the Baggies head to Rotherham (7.45pm) for another friendly on Tuesday night.

Teams

Scunthorpe (4-3-3): Watson; Horsfield, McGahey, Perch, Ntlhe (Butroid, 67); Songo'o (Lund, 67), McAtee (Hallam, 60), Gilliead; Olomola (Dales, 72), van Veen, Hammill

Subs not used: Eastwood (gk), Burgess

Albion (4-3-3): Johnstone; Ferguson (Wilson, 81), Bartley (Ajayi, 60), O'Shea (Fitzwater, 81), Townsend (Melbourne, 82); Livermore (Leko, 60), Krovinovic (Brunt, 60), Field (Harper, 60); Phillips (Robson-Kanu, 60), Burke (Zohore, 60), Edwards (Tulloch, 69)

Subs not used: Bond (gk)

Goals: Phillips (47, 51), Krovinovic (49), Robson-Kanu (80)