Ruth: Resilience key to victory over Aldershot

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Our under-21s beat Aldershot 2-1 in the National League Cup on Tuesday night.

Neil Moxley

2025-08-12T22:00+01:00

Shannon Ruth was delighted with his team's performance. 📸 by Paul Hazlewood.

Men's under-21s head coach Shannon Ruth was delighted with the resilience and togetherness shown as his Under-21 side mounted a successful late comeback.

After falling a goal behind with 20 minutes to go, Albion's youngsters refused to be beaten and claimed the spoils on an evening when their late pressure told.

Ruth said, “I’m super-pleased with their approach throughout the whole game.

“I’ve seen the data and it’s really positive for us. We want to ensure that when we play well in that style - that we win.

“We have to prepare these young players for the first-team and winning and development go hand-in-hand with one another.”

Zane Albarus runs with the ball after an own goal got Albion back on level terms. 📸 by Paul hazlewood.

An own goal that was forced through late pressure on the Aldershot captain was followed by an emphatic finish by Shane Nti to bag three points from the opening fixture.

It had looked as though it would be a night of missed opportunity as Aldershot scored with almost their first direct effort on Steven Hall’s goal.

Ruth added, “It was an important result for us because it showcased what is a key philosophy for the manager. That is, what we do against the ball, how together we are as a team and how relentless we are with our work.

“When someone presses, they absolutely press - all in, with zero doubt - and without the ball we were really good.

“The two goals came off the back of really good pressing and good energy. Our job in the Under-21s is to drip feed those principles into the players. It’s important to Fabian and those goals emphasised the pressing work that we are doing.”