Under-21s head coach Shannon Ruth admitted his side had a tough afternoon during their 4-1 friendly defeat to Brentford on Monday, but was pleased with the opportunity to face Premier League players.
The Bees' goals came courtesy of a Kevin Schade hat-trick and an own goal, while a trialist was on the scoresheet for us.
“They were strong and we had a number of young players involved,” Ruth said. “We had a number of changes in the team with people trying to get minutes, including some of the players that weren’t involved in our Premier League 2 match on Friday.
“It took us a little while to adapt and get a foothold in the game due to their quality and experience.
“We started well in the second half and got it back to 2-1, we had a really positive period for 15-20 minutes. They then scored a good goal to make it 3-1 and then at the back end of the game both teams made a number of changes.
“It was a great game, there’s lots of learning from today and it was good for the players to get that opportunity against players of that level and gives them an indication as to what’s required to be a Premier League player. It was a tough day, but definitely there are a lot of positives.”
Albion: Reid, Offiah, Kavanagh, Slater, Furlong, Duffus, Knight, Hinchy, Baker-Boaitey, Zeqiri, Mullins. Subs: Fisher, Ryan, Babb, Peart, Ifill, trialist.