Baxter: We had to ride out the storm

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Under-18s reached fifth round of the FA Youth Cup on Tuesday.

Charlie Hanson

2022-01-19T05:00:00Z

Albion face Charlton Athletic in the fifth round of the competition.

Professional development phase coach James Baxter was delighted with the maturity his team showed in their FA Youth Cup fourth round win over Manchester City.

Zak Emmerson fired home the only goal of the game with 20 minutes to play, after Albion spent long periods of the game out of possession.

Baxter said, “It’s fantastic to get through to the next round and we’ve knocked out one of the favourites for the tournament which is brilliant.

“I am really happy with the boys – we had to ride out the storm in the first half but we also looked a threat on the counter. We said at half-time ‘every ten minutes we absorb we wear them down and frustrate them’.

“From that we started creating chances on the counter. It was a bit of a fortunate goal, but we defended really well from back to front. We’re delighted to be in the next round.”

Albion’s defensively solidity was key to their victory.

“It was a really mature performance, there have been times this season where we have lacked that consistency, but since the turn of the year the players have been excellent in their professionalism and attitude.”

Albion now face Charlton Athletic in the fifth round, who defeated Accrington Stanley 2-1 on Tuesday night.

“We won’t get ahead of ourselves after beating City. We will put as much work into preparing for the next round as we did for the Manchester City game,” said Baxter.