Steve Bruce drops telling comment as West Brom prepare for Middlesbrough

When asked after West Bromwich Albion’s 2-1 pre-season friendly win over Hertha Berlin whether the performance had had any bearing on his decision making for next Saturday’s season opener at Middlesbrough, Steve Bruce had quite a short response.

“Oh, 100%,” he replied with a smile.

It’s hard not to get too carried away when this Albion front four click. After toiling for more than an hour - not for the first time in this pre-season campaign which feels as though it’s staggered across the duration of the entire year - a freshening up brought about immediate fruit.

Grady Diangana on the left, within two minutes of being introduced, burst past Jonjoe Kenny and delivered a cross for number ten John Swift, who was otherwise probably the pick of the Albion side on the day.

Three minutes later, and the other half of the front quartet combined. Jed Wallace delivered from the right and Daryl Dike met the ball with a decisive glancing nod into the corner. Within five minutes, Albion had looked a side out of ideas to be being the side with the lead.

At the same time, Karlan Grant has ended pre-season - for what it’s worth - as he ended last season - as the club’s top scorer. Not on the score-sheet today, he watched from the bench, having been withdrawn, as his forward colleagues combined.

Then there’s Matt Phillips who, having suffered various injury problems last season, has actually turned in a productive and eye-catching summer campaign, too. Granted, he cut a quieter figure on Saturday, but still he’ll be very much in consideration when it comes to the Riverside.

“You’re only as good as your forward players, and they today changed the game for us a little bit,” Bruce pointed out. “They’ve scored two in five minutes. Let’s