A blistering start with three goals in the opening 10 minutes proved enough for our Under-18s to claim a vital win at West Browmich Albion on Tuesday afternoon.
Sitting top of the table by a solitary point ahead of kick-off and with title rivals Chelsea also in action, we knew maximum points in the West Midlands would be needed to stay in the hunt – and Jamie Carr’s side delivered once again thanks to an early salvo from Ronny Moncur, Tye Hall and Miracle Adewole, although it was a closer end to the game than what we’d have liked after beginning so well.
Indeed, the Baggies pulled it back to 3-2 via Harry French with six minutes of normal time still to play after Justin Seven-Seven had got them off the mark mere moments after we’d gone 3-0 up, but we weathered their late pressure to ensure we escaped with the required victory, Chelsea’s 4-0 home win over Arsenal ensuring it’s as you were at the top, although the Blues now have a superior goal difference.
West Brom were left shellshocked by our rampant start at their training ground, Moncur planting inside the near post from Oliver Boast’s right-sided delivery after only three minutes before Adewole teed up skipper Hall to fire home his trademark goal from the edge of the box in the wake of a short corner just three minutes later, goalkeeper William Rutter getting his hands to the ball but unable to keep it out. Reiss Elliott-Parris fizzed a shot just off-target before Adewole notched up number three with only 10 minutes on the watch, planting a precise shot low inside the near post after a long ball out from the back.
Unfortunately, West Brom responded almost straight away, Seven-Seven converting from a tight angle on the left on 12 minutes after we lost possession at the back and that derailed our momentum somewhat, although we still produced some good passages of play at times without really troubling Rutter.
Frazer Billings and Elliott-Parris were off-target at either end during the remainder of the first half but while Moncur, George Feeney and Harry Byrne all went close after the restart, we struggled to recapture our dominance of the opening spell and West Brom’s Cole Dexter squandered a big chance when he skipped over a couple of challenges to get through into the box, only to fire wide with just Dylan Thompson to beat.
If that was a let-off, we had no such luck when French planted a low shot into the far corner on 84 minutes, making it 3-2 and giving the Baggies a real chance of completing what had earlier seemed an unlikely comeback. Adewole scampered through one-on-one with Rutter but was thwarted by the advancing stopper as we sought to put the game to bed, but West Brom continued to threaten, Reece Bastafield unable to keep his footing at the back post when well placed to score and Dexter’s rising shot sharply held by Thompson, who later conceded a cheap corner after being adjudged to have held onto the ball for too long. Thankfully, we escaped and the final whistle confirmed three more welcome points as our unbeaten league run at this level extended into a 12th game.
‘Overall feeling is a bit of relief’
Under-18s Coach Jamie was delighted to see his players get over the line, having started the game so well: “The overall feeling when you’re coming off of a game where you concede late and you’re having to defend your goal in the last 10 minutes under pressure is a bit of relief, so I’d say that’s the overriding emotion at the moment, but when you think about the bigger picture there were lots of pleasing bits during the game, particularly in the first half,” he reflected.
“We started really well, scored some good goals and played some good football. There was then a bit of a period in the second half where we just started to lose a bit of control, we made some changes but didn’t quite ever gain control back and that’s where we managed to give away a second goal, which made a game of it.”
On the players’ character and desire to see out the win after West Brom’s second goal, Jamie added: “I guess it’s a bit of a byproduct of being in a good position in the league where we’ve got a moment in a game towards the back end of the season where there’s a bit of pressure on it, and I think you could see that the lads placed the right importance on the game. You could sense that was evident in the final minutes and people like Dylan Thompson rose to the challenge and claimed some important balls from set-plays towards the back end of the game, which was really pleasing.”
Chelsea, who still have a match in hand, play twice before our next game, which is at home to Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday 18 March (11.30am UK, live on SPURSPLAY).