Under-18s win thriller with nine men

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West Brom beaten 4-3 at the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre.

Charlie Hanson

2023-08-14T13:00:00Z

Inigo Calderon's team began the season with a 4-3 victory.

Our men’s under-18s pulled off a stunning 4-3 victory over West Brom in the Premier League South on Saturday despite finishing the game with nine men.

Inigo Calderon’s team were 1-0 down after two minutes when Dan Chimeziri took advantage of a defensive mix-up and curled a lovely effort into the top left corner.

The game looked as if it was getting away from us when Joe Knight received his second booking after 11 minutes for a mistimed challenge, but we were level ten minutes later.

Joe Belmont – who was making his competitive debut for the under-18s – rounded off a slick team move that started with keeper Lorenz Ferdinand, before Charlie Tasker got to the byline and pulled it back for Belmont to fire in.

Sixty seconds later we defied the odds by taking the lead. Aidan West won the ball off West Brom’s right-back before picking out Belmont on the edge of the box, who then teed up a trialist to make it 2-1.

Charlie Penman scored late on to secure all three points.

Calderon’s team extended their advantage eight minutes after the restart when Remiero Moulton’s effort from an angle was saved, but Sahil Bashir was there on the follow up to convert.

West Brom got themselves a lifeline when Divine Onyemachi struck home from Dan Chimeziri's pull back, before Albion went down to nine men after Moulton was shown two quickfire yellow cards.

The Baggies used their two-man advantage to equalise immediately from the penalty spot with Ferdinand diving the right way, but Chimeziri's strike from 12 yards still nestled into the bottom corner.

The visitors seemed overwhelming favourites to find a winner, but Ferdinand had little to do before Albion struck what turned out to be the winner. Bashir’s inswinging free-kick with four minutes to play fell for Charlie Penman at the back post to convert.

The result marked a perfect result for Calderon to begin his reign with, although he will now be without Moulton and Knight in their next match at Leicester City on Saturday.

Albion: Ferdinand, Tasker, Mills (sub: Mackley 65), Simmonds, Penman, Albarus, West (Bashir 46), Gulzar (Nti 69), Knight, Trialist (Moulton 46), Belmont.