Ruth happy to readjust and get first win in PL2

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Three second-half goals secured a 3-0 win over Leicester City for our MU21s.

2026-09-12T08:00+01:00

After he made a tactical readjustment, Shannon Ruth saw his side produce a strong second-half performance against Leicester City. 📷James Boardman

Albion under-21s head coach Shannon Ruth was happy to see his team beat Leicester City on Friday to register a first win in Premier League 2 this season.

Adam Brett, Tyler Silsby and Younes Ibrahim scored the goals in a 3-0 victory at the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre that felt comfortable in the end.

But he admitted that he had been forced to readjust after the visitors had begun the game the stronger of the two sides.

“I thought we were lucky not to be at least one goal, maybe two goals down,” he said. “So I was disappointed how we started.

“Credit to Leicester, I thought they were good, I thought they were sharp, they moved the ball well. We had to make some adjustments tactically from an out-of-possession perspective.

“We went more aggressive, we went more man-to-man and I felt we just started to get a foothold in it towards the back end of the half.

“And then, for me, in the second half we were a different team. I thought it could have been four- or five-nil, and maybe it should have been.

“But the main thing was that our intensity was so much different.”

Brett’s first-half goal came against the run of play, but Silsby and Ibrahim scored as Albion exerted a growing second-half superiority.

Younes Ibrahim scored a terrific individual goal in our under-21s' win over Leicester City. 📸 by James Boardman.

Ibrahim’s goal was the highlight, a solo run and clever finish.

“Younes is in a wonderful spot at the moment,” Ruth said. “He has just found a way of adapting his game.

“He can play deep because he takes the ball so well. He's a real threat in and around the box and his delivery in set-pieces is high level. So we're excited for Younes this season.

“Each season you get a different group with a different profile. And I look at our group as a whole this season and we've got some good attacking players.

“To have three centre-forwards like we had tonight in George Munday, Valentin Joseph and Brettie, I thought they all helped us at the right times.”

“So at times the game is going to look open and it's probably our job to help pick the right moments.

“I said last week we're going to have chances. We're going to create and I think we're going to score.

"We've just got to make sure we take care of clean sheets. And that was another pleasing thing about Friday.”