Fulham came from behind to beat our men’s under-21s 3-2 in their final Premier League 2 fixture of the campaign.
Despite both teams scoring, the first 45 minutes were particularly quiet. Andy Moran gave us the lead after 33 minutes when he flicked in Cam Peupion’s deflected cross, the Australian’s tenth goal involvement in his last six games (six goals, four assists).
But with the seconds counting down to half-time, the hosts found an equaliser when Terry Ablade thumped home on the volley from eight yards from Martial Godo’s left wing cross.
The game properly kicked into life after an hour, when Jack Hinshelwood restored our lead after Casper Nilsson picked him out in the middle and he cleverly found the bottom left corner with a first-time finish.
Albion were then reduced to ten men. Sub Leigh Kavanagh had been on the pitch for just ten minutes when he was shown a straight red card. Kristian Sekularac got in behind the Albion defence and Kavanagh was deemed to have tripped the Fulham player when he was through on goal.
Substitute Oliver Gofford prodded home in the 77th minute to make it 2-2 and from there it was one way traffic as the Cottagers pushed for a winner.
They would find one but in somewhat unfortunate circumstances for the visitors. Godo cut in from the left before firing towards the bottom right corner and his shot took a hefty deflection off Imari Samuels, wrong footing Killian Cahill and finding the bottom left corner with just three minutes to go.
Hinshelwood nearly found an equaliser in the second minute of added time, but his volley was easily gathered by Alfie McNally.
The result sees us finish the campaign in sixth in Premier League 2, with Fulham moving above us to snatch fifth spot.
Albion line-up: Cahill, Nilsson, van Hecke (Kavanagh 61), McConville, Samuels, Hinchy (Mullins 84), Chouchane, Peupion (Duffus 84), Barrington, Hinshelwood, Moran (O’Mahony 61).
Unused subs: Talley.