Ruth: Victory over Toffees shows club togetherness

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Solly March was the consummate professional in the win over the Toffees, according to Ruth.

2026-03-23T17:00+00:00

Harry Howell started in our 5-0 win over Everton in Premier League 2. 📸 by Jeff Mood.

Shannon Ruth felt his team’s 5-0 win over Everton demonstrated how aligned the first team are with the under-21s.

Our Premier League 2 victory saw three academy players with first team experience – Charlie Tasker, Harry Howell and Miah Oriola – as well as Solly March all involved in the game.

“What we saw on Sunday is probably what 21s football can look like,” Ruth said.

“You’ve got a really experienced first-team player in Solly that obviously came from our academy coming down to get minutes.

Harry Howell has made three Premier League appearances this season. 📸 by Jeff Mood.

“You've got a young player in Harry Howell who is in and around our first team coming down to get minutes before he goes away on international duty. Freddie Simmonds has spent a lot of time with the first team very recently.

“The team looked very different to the one we had out on Monday [in the 2-0 win at Burnley], but I was really pleased with how together they were, which isn’t easy with all those changes. A lot of the information around the lads playing would have come only in the two days before the game.

“But we try and play with the same principles as Fabian Hurzeler and the transition of player between under-21s and first team is so frequent, it means that when players drop down into play in a game they look really together.

“They played some really nice football and it gives us the best chance to perform as well as we can.”

Solly March has made 297 first team appearances for Albion. 📸 by Jeff Mood.

March, 31, came on at the beginning of the second half with the score at 1-0 to Albion.

"I thought he played extremely well,” Ruth continued. “You see a lot of professionalism. Even at the end there, he could shoot but he gives the young boy a tap-in for a goal and it just shows the person that he is. I thought he looked really sharp.

“I thought he really impacted the game and showed moments of real quality that we know he has got.

“I am just delighted that he was able to get 45 minutes under his belt and impact the game and I'm sure that will give him confidence when we come back from international break.”