Under-21s beaten in double header

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2025-07-30T22:00+01:00

Ben Barclay in action against Portsmouth. Photo: Paul Hazlewood.

Our men's under-21s continued their build-up to the new Premier League 2 season by playing two friendlies on Wednesday.

In the first game at the American Express Elite Performance Centre, Albion went down 4-0 to a strong Portsmouth team containing several first-team players as they prepare for their Championship opener on 9 August.

Callum Mackley tries to find a way through the Portsmouth midfield. Photo: Paul Hazlewood

Thomas Waddingham scored twice for the visitors with Josh Murphy and Paddy Lane also on target for Pompey, who led 1-0 at the break.

Tate Ferdinand and Younes Ibrahim in action against Whitehawk.

A few hours later a much younger Albion team, containing several under-18s, lost 1-0 to Isthmian Premier outfit Whitehawk at the Enclosed Ground.

In another competitive run-out a first-half header from Hugo Odogwu-Atkinson proved to be the difference.

Ruth: It was a good exercise for the players

Head coach Shannon Ruth was pleased with the competitive workouts his squad got after the under-21s tackled two opponents on Wednesday.

Ruth said, ‘It was a good exercise in terms of the players we had involved. Against Portsmouth they fielded what would be their Championship side with about 900 games in terms of experience. For 60-70 minutes we were really good and the players gave a good account of themselves, they were really stretched.

"It gave us loads to take away and I was grateful to Portsmouth for fielding such an experienced team, I’m sure they got a lot out of it as well.

‘Against Whitehawk it was predominantly our youth team but that made it a good exercise. The idea in pre-season is to stretch the players in situations they are not used to.

‘For some of our young players it was the first type of fixture in that type of environment that they will have experienced. We finished with an under-16 on the pitch and the majority of first-year scholars were in the team so it was another good exercise for us.’