Lambert at the double on West Brom bow
West Brom eased to a 4-0 friendly win at Bristol Rovers, with Rickie Lambert netting a brace hours after completing his move from Liverpool.
Rickie Lambert celebrated joining West Brom by netting a brace in a 4-0 friendly win over his former club Bristol Rovers.
The 33-year-old England striker completed his switch from Liverpool for an undisclosed fee earlier on Friday and was soon among the goals at the Recreation Ground, where he was a crowd favourite thanks to 55 goals in 143 appearances for Rovers between 2006 and 2009.
Back at his old stomping ground, Lambert opened the scoring in fortuitous fashion after 23 minutes as his speculative long-range strike deflected off Tom Parkes to leave Rovers goalkeeper Steve Mildenhall with no chance.
Craig Gardner latched onto Chris Brunt's throughball to double West Brom's advantage in the 34th minute and Lambert was on hand to convert James McClean's cross moments after the second half got underway.
Brown Ideye came on for Lambert, who departed to a standing ovation, and the substitute teed up Victor Anichebe to complete the scoring 13 minutes from time.
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