Port Vale 1 West Brom 1 - Report and pictures

For the last half an hour of this match with Port Vale the Baggies had an academy side on the pitch.

And while the youngsters hardly disgraced themselves, they couldn't hold on to the lead Hal Robson-Kanu's opportunistic goal a minute before half-time had given them.

Four minutes from time, Tommy Pope nodded in an equaliser at the back post to give the fans of the League Two side something to cheer.

With no fewer than six senior players currently out injured, Tony Pulis was forced to name three teenagers in his starting line-up. He also chose to rest Salomon Rondon and Craig Dawson.

That may have been down to a hectic pre-season schedule that has already taken in games in Austria and Hong Kong and finishes in Spain this weekend.

Or it may have been a pointed message to the board that, with a week and a half to go before the season starts, this squad is desperately short of numbers.

All those absentees meant the bench, which had an average age of 18.14 for its outfield players, was brimming with untested teenagers.

Even if Pulis was keeping those on the edge of fitness back for the sterner test of Pepe Mel's Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday, it is a worrying state of affairs.

Not that there weren't promising performances from the kids asked to step.

Kane Wilson was one of those youngsters who started, and Port Vale seemed intent to attack down their left to test Albion's 17-year-old right-back, but the muscly teenager was more than up to the task, and continued to burst up the wing undeterred.

He had obviously been told to forage forward at every opportunity and look for a clipped through ball while Claudio Yacob drifted back into the space he vacated to cover his position and the move nearly came off more than once.

But it was whenever Albion got Nacer Chadli on the ball in the number 10 position that they looked most dangerous, particularly when Jay Rodriguez bent his run from out wide to try and get in behind.

However, too many of Albion's passes were falling short and when Rodriguez's ball failed to reach Sam Field, Vale broke away and won a free-kick which yielded the first chance of the game.

Anthony De Freitas's shot was well struck and destined for the top corner before Ben Foster tipped it around the post.

Rodriguez is having an impressince pre-season though, and he nearly scored his third goal of the summer 20 minutes in when he glanced Jonathan Leko's cross goalwards after the young winger sent in a looping ball following a barked instruction from Pulis on the sideline, but the header was safely gathered by Vale keeper Ryan Boot.

Centre-back Nathan Smith then went close for the hosts with a header of his own up the other end, but it was the Premier League side who were enjoying most of the possession and the territory.

And the Baggies took the lead one minute before half-time when Robson-Kanu capitalised on a dreadful backpass from Vale left-back Adam Yates before rounding the keeper and tucking home a simple finish from a narrow angle into an empty net.

Pulis brought 16-year-old Rayhaan Tulloch on for Chadli at half-time and also swapped his keepers over, before sending four more youngsters on two minutes after the break to protect his most important senior players from further injury.

Rekeem Harper, a promising box-to-box midfielder, immediately sent a searching ball forward to Robson-Kanu, who controlled it superbly on his chest before flashing his shot over the bar.

But Vale, who made two changes themselves, started to take control of proceedings against Albion's young outfit.

Max Melbourne and Kyle Edwards were then sent on for Allan Nyom and goalscorer Robson-Kanu, leaving Boaz Myhill as the only senior player on the pitch for the last half-hour.

That drifted by without too much action until the 86th minute, when a deflected cross looped up to substitute Pope at the back post.

He rose above everyone in blue and white before crashing home a header from all of three yards out.

Pulis wants to send his best youngsters out on loan next season, but losing the likes of Field - who misplaced an unusual amount of passes at Vale Park ­- Wilson, and Leko, who both fared much better, can simply not be risked when the squad is so thin.

It's been said in these pages all summer, but as the start of the season ticks closer, and the niggling injuries mount higher, the need for bodies grows stronger.

It's highly likely Pulis will be short come the start of the season, and there is now a genuine worry that it will detrimentally impact their opening three games before the window shuts.

Port Vale: Boot (Hornby 45), Gibbons, Smith (Gunning 62), Reeves (Tonge 62), Yates, De Freitas (Puch 62), Davis, Harness, Calverley, Forrester (Pyke 45), Turner. Unused subs: Kay, Pope, Dennis, Kelly.

Albion (4-2-3-1): Foster; Wilson, Evans (c) (O'Shea 47), Hegazi (Howkins 47), Nyom (Melbourne 62); Field, Yacob (Harpery 47); Leko, Chadli (Tulloch 45), Rodriguez (Roberts 47); Robson-Kanu (Edwards 62).

Referee: Chris Sarginson

Attendance: 1,783 (350 Albion)