Goalscorers Varela and Ideye discuss yesterday's fitness exercise
SILVESTRE Varela cut a delighted figure after getting 90 minutes under his belt and finding the net in yesterday’s 2-0 behind-closed-doors friendly victory at Leicester.
The tricky winger, on loan from Portuguese giants FC Porto, was recently forced to undergo minor hernia surgery.
But he put in an impressive performance against the Foxes as he stepped up his fitness, firing the Baggies into a first-half lead having been put through by Sebastian Blanco.
Varela said: "I feel good and I'm very happy to play again.
"Now I have to keep working hard to play in the next games.
"I don't have a pain. This is my first game after the operation and I'm so happy.
"I scored a goal, it's important for me and the team.
"I'm really happy we won and to play 90 minutes is nice for me.”
Varela continued: "These next weeks in the international break I can increase my fitness.
"I'll keep working hard so that I don't disappoint the fans or the club."
Striker Brown Ideye was another who completed the encounter at Leicester’s Belvoir Drive training ground and also got on the scoresheet with Albion’s second goal after the interval, Samir Nabi making sure the ball crossed the line.
Ideye sustained an ankle injury during the process of bagging Albion’s opening goal in the 3-2 League Cup victory at home to Hull towards the end of September.
The Nigeria international returned to first-team action a month later in the subsequent fourth-round defeat against Bournemouth at the Goldsands Stadium, where he featured for just under an hour.
And having played the entire 90 minutes alongside Varela against the Foxes yesterday, an upbeat Ideye was in buoyant mood when he spoke afterwards.
“It was good, I'm happy to be back playing,” he said.
“It's been about a month since I last played 90 minutes so it felt good.
“For me it's all about working for the team but, yes, at the same time, every striker wants to score goals.
“I was running everywhere.
“The most important thing for me is to take it one step at a time, I got 90 minutes and that's good.”