Nti: Young Albion players in first team inspire us

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Youngster delighted with glut of goals to start to the season.

Nick Szczepanik

2025-08-19T06:30+01:00

A perfect start to the Premier League 2 campaign. 📷 by James Boardman.

Shane Nti has started the new season with a bang.

He followed up his winner away to Aldershot in the National League Cup with a hat-trick as Albion beat West Brom’s under-21s 4-0 in Sunday’s opening match of the PL2 season.

When the team sheets were handed in, it looked as though the main talking point would be the first appearances in a competitive match for new signings Stefanos Tzimas and Charalampos Kostoulas, who were both named among the Albion substitutes. But Nti seemed to have other ideas.

He opened his account against the Baggies with a far-post tap-in from Charlie Tasker’s low cross and rose to head home Harry Howell’s scooped cross just before half time. And when Tzimas was brought down by West Brom goalkeeper Louis Brady in added time, he handed Shane the ball.

Shane Nti's hat-trick were his first goals in Premier League 2. 📷 by James Boardman.

“I was going to let Stef take it, because it was obviously his first game, but he gave it to me,” he said. “I don't know many number nines that would give the ball to someone else!

“The first, I was just hoping to get contact on it, and try and guide it towards the goal. The second, that’s the highest I've ever jumped, to be fair. Harry did very well, first with quick feet and then to pick me out, and I just thought, jump as high as I can and head it.

“After the game I got the match ball, everyone signed it, and there were some nice comments on there, which is good, a good start to the season.”

Playing alongside the two recently-arrived Greek attackers was a positive experience, Shane said. “They're my age as well, big players, and I’m looking forward to seeing them in the first team. But because they're so young and they're in and around the first team, it makes you think you want to get there as well.

"As a group we go over to first-team training quite a lot, which is a good thing. You get quite a bit of experience from the first team, playing against them in 11 v 11s and stuff. Obviously, you think it's inspiring, you can do this, but at the same time, just keep going step by step."

Shane Nti scored the winner in the previous game - a 2-1 victory over Aldershot Town. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

Shane, who is eligible to play for Malaysia as well as England, made one start for the under-21s in PL2 last season and came off the bench a further four times, but was a prolific scorer at under-18 level and now hopes to kick on at the higher level.

“I thought I played well in pre-season training out in Spain,” he said. “Aldershot, which was against a senior team, was a bit of a different game, but I thought we adapted quite well, and then today, we’d trained hard all week and took it into the game, and a clean sheet and four goals was a good result. Now I’ve just got to keep trying to give my all. Next game, Blackburn next week, look to score then, look to win.”

The Londoner is listed on the club website as a midfield player but at times against the other Albion he appeared as a left winger and a central striker in coach Shannon Ruth’s impressively fluid formation.

“He's quite versatile as a midfield player,” Ruth said. “He can play 10, 8 and he finished the game as a 6. He's an all-rounder and he's really liked by the group and we're pleased with the form that he's in because he works really hard. He's been in our system a little while now and deserves the good moment that he's in.”