Gianluca Frabotta verdict after West Brom U21 run-out and Daryl Dike plan continues

West Brom defender Gianluca Frabotta played for the under 21s on Monday night in front of the watching Tony Mowbray

Tony Mowbray says West Brom will continue to handly Daryl Dike carefully following the breakthrough of his comeback from a year away from action. Striker Dike emerged from the bench in the 1-1 draw at Millwall last Saturday to mark his return and offer Mowbray another option in the front-line.

The American joined a little over three years ago, but his time at The Hawthorns has largely been ravaged by injury - Dike has, though, proven that he knows where the net is and boasts an impressive goals to starts ratio during that disrupted period. All parties concerned can only hope that Dike's dreadful luck which has involved ruptured Achilles and hamstring woe are now behind him.

"Daryl is still in the mode where the medical team look after him - he doesn't train every day, they manage his minutes through the working week," Mowbray explained. "He didn't train today, for instance, but he'll certainly train Friday and we'll see how he is. We just have to keep seeing if we can get him game time from the bench as we go along for the immediate future."

Captain Jed Wallace will be out for the foreseeable future, having injured his calf at former club Millwall, meanwhile; Wallace, who by his own admission has endured a difficult campaign where starts under Mowbray and predecessor Carlos Corberan have been hard to come by, will hopefully return for the run-in.

"The club has put something out about Jed's calf, which isn't ideal," Mowbray added. "He won't be featuring this weekend, but let's see how long it'll be. Generally, apart from that, everything is else is good."

Mowbray, meanwhile, attended Albion under 21s' draw with rivals Wolves at Kidderminster Harriers' home Aggborough on Monday night. Harry Whitwell equalised for Albion who were much the better side and who included first-team player Gianluca Frabotta in their side in order for Mowbray to run the rule over the lesser spotted left-back.

"They have the better opportunities to score a second goal," he reflected. "I enjoyed the game, it was competitive as you'd expect. I like some of the young players, there is a potential there. I will make sure I watch all the games I can for the 21s, I think it's important for the players to see that the head coach is watching them and making sure I'm aware of who I want to come and train with us when we need extra bodies.

"Frabotta - as I've said since to him, the player I think he is, I need to see him play. He's a deliverer, he whips the ball forward from deep or from wide into the box. He's got an attribute which could help the team moving forward, but we'll see in the last 13 games if he can work his way into the team or not."