Our men’s under-21s continued their fine end of season form as they came from behind to beat Manchester United 3-2 at the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre on Friday.
Albion got off to the worst possible start when Joe Hugill’s effort from the edge of the box took a huge deflection off Sam Packham which wrong-footing keeper Tom McGill and bounced into the bottom right corner within the opening minute.
Remarkably we were level in the fourth minute when Ruairi McConville met Casper Nilsson’s free-kick from the right and found the bottom corner, and we could have been ahead before the ten minute mark when Cam Peupion’s cross from the byline took a deflection off a United defender and seemed to be heading in, but Radek Vitek dived on the ball on the line.
Noam Emeran restored the visitors’ lead with a free-kick from the edge of the box midway through the first half, before Jamie Mullins’s curled effort smacked the bottom of the upright as we looked for an immediate response.
Peupion extended his stunning record in front of goal by netting his sixth goal in his last four Premier League 2 appearances six minutes before the half-time whistle. McGill deserves equal credit for picking out the Australian to put him in on goal. That said, the finish was sumptuous. Cam brought down the keeper’s long ball, Vitek raced off his line to stifle the effort but Peupion flicked it past him and lofted it over a United defender to make it 2-2.
Shannon Ruth made two changes at the break with Mark O’Mahony and Casey Shann replacing Imari Samuels and Jack Hinshelwood.
The introduction of O’Mahony would prove key. Peupion pinched the ball off Sam Murray on the Albion right and sprinted down the flank before picking out the Irishman for a tap-in at the back post after 66 minutes.
The fight to take all three points got a lot harder for Albion when Casper Nilsson received his second yellow card for taking too long to take a throw-in with 20 minutes still to play.
United took control and skipper Dan Gore should have slotted home in the fifth minute of added time when he danced over a tackle and looked to fire into the bottom right corner, but sent his shot wide.
The result made it six unbeaten in PL2 for Ruth’s men, who can now aim for a top four finish with two games to go.
Albion line-up: McGill, Nilsson, McConville, Packham, Samuels (O’Mahony 46), Hinchy, Chouchane, Peupion, Barrington (Baker-Boaitey 75), Mullins (Everitt 90+1), Hinshelwood (Shann 46).
Unused subs: Cahill.