SCOTT Carson was the main attraction but Marek Cech stole the show on the night of the debutants.

The duo played their first games in last night's draw against Cheltenham with Cech grabbing Albion's goal.

Carson on the other hand watched the drama unfold in front of him. And watched. And watched some more.

He had little to do, not even a save for the cameras. His main spot of action being to race in for the ball to cut out the threat of Ashley Vincent after only 12 minutes.

Cech was more lively. He and Chris Brunt dovetailed together well down Albion's left side, with the impressive Ulsterman dropping back and deep many times to start up play, swinging his left-foot like a nine iron to great effect.

The Slovakian used the ball well but was rarely tested defensively. He never looked harried or harrassed. Composure came as second nature.

But his goal was lucky.

FOR a long period it looked as if I'd be writing about a shed or a camp tannoy announcer.

Thankfully some woeful Albion defending and two tremendous strikes from Do-Heon Kim and James Morrison saved the day.

The first half of last night's friendly against Shrewsbury was so devoid of entertainment - apart from Neil Clement hitting the post with a free-kick - that the biggest cheer of the night came when the PA man told us there were 'an additional two moments to play'.

But not as strange as the half-time competition to win a shed. No, really.

AS a result the defeat to FC Koln might not look pretty - but don't be too fooled.

Albion were defeated by a German Bundesliga side who were several games ahead of their English opponents in terms of number of pre-season games played.

And while Tony Mowbray's men threw the game away with some car crash defending, the bigger picture is that Albion are getting there.

Players are becoming fitter by the day, shaper and more polished with every game. Having two 'training sessions from hell' on the Friday, as one player described it, might have also gone some way to explaining the Koln defeat.

And, unlike last week's game against Borussia Monchengladbach, at least they came through Saturday's friendly at Euskirchen without any new injury problems.

Excuses over and done with, Michal Danek and his defence best look away now as far as the game's concerned.

SOME Albion fans paid just a penny to watch their team in Germany.

On that basis last night's defeat to Borussia Monchengladbach was money well spent.

And if you'd given a penny for Tony Mowbray's thoughts following the game you'd have probably tapped into possible concerns about squad depth but, equally, been pleased with his rusty side's work-out.