Under-21s head coach Shannon Ruth was proud of his team for reaching the last eight of the Bristol Street Motors Trophy.
After 90 goalless minutes, Albion defeated Reading 3-2 on penalties at the Amex on Tuesday.
In doing so, they’ve now gone further into the competition than any previous Albion under-21 side since they first entered in the 2016/17 season.
“Pride is the overriding feeling - for the young players to perform on a night like that,” Ruth said.
“That is probably the biggest game some of them have been in and to ask them to perform in that manner against a really strong Reading side was good to see.
“Reading paid us a lot of respect with their line-up and to stand up to that - it was our fourth clean sheet in the competition - and then to deal with pressure and perform with the penalties I’m really happy.”
Reading had scored 20 goals in their four previous matches in the competition.
“We were really aware they are the top scorers in this competition so we had to defend well,” Ruth added.
”A lot of our style and identity is with the ball but we knew we were going to have to be resilient without it. Some of our defending of the box was excellent.
“Their one-v-one capability in wide areas was a real strength of theirs and I thought the full backs dealt with that really well. We had a good attitude to help each other.
“I was delighted with the approach from the players and ultimately the result. I feel we deserved it for the efforts we put in.”
The Bristol Street Motors Trophy quarter-final draw will take place live on Sky Sports News at 6.30pm on Friday 12 January.