West Bromwich Albion were beaten 2-0 by Stevenage on Saturday in their second pre-season friendly of the summer.
The signings of Jed Wallace and John Swift have increased the expectations substantially of how the Baggies will perform in their second season since relegation to the Championship.
The jury is still out on Steve Bruce's ability to lead West Brom back to the promiseland after a challenging final third to the last campaign at the Hawthorns.
Bruce reflected on his side's disappointing defeat to Steve Evans' men when he spoke to The Athletic.
He said: "Pre-season doesn’t really matter.
"We are trying to get minutes into people who haven’t played for a long time, Kenneth Zohore, Daryl Dike and Cedric Kipre.
"Everyone is okay; only Grady (Diangana) is a bit sore.
"We’re two weeks in, three weeks to go.
"That’s the key to it, trying to get minutes into them.
"It’ll be the same Wednesday.
"And then we’ll start looking at picking a team for Middlesbrough."
Bruce has never been the most expansive manager when talking to the media, but he does appear to be a little defensive about the club's result against League Two opposition.
Pre-season scorelines rarely have a bearing on how club's begin their league campaigns, but with patience set the run thin very quickly if the Baggies do not fly out of the blocks, it is easy to see why Bruce is focusing on the positives.
The Verdict
With both teams beginning their seasons on July 30th there is no reason why Stevenage would have had a physical advantage over the Baggies, and therefore it would have been a result that Steve Evans was chuffed with, against a side with realistic second tier promotion aspirations.
Daryl Dike's return to first team action is bound to drum up a lot of positivity in the Black Country, with many hoping that he can reproduce the performances he put in for Barnsley in the second half of 2020/21.
David Button and Alex Palmer were both in action against Stevenage, with it still unclear who the club's first choice goalkeeper will be heading into the new season.