Mark Beard believes the detail his coaching staff go into with the under-18 players has helped move them closer to the first team squad.
A number of academy graduates have featured for the first team this season in Albion’s Carabao Cup squads.
Steven Alzate, Aaron Connolly, Jayson Molumby and Max Sanders are all involved having played in the under-18s, while under-23s Haydon Roberts, Peter Gwargis and Alex Cochrane have also featured.
Beard said, “Every year the standard is improving and we’re getting more academy players closer to the first team or going out on loan to clubs that are competing at a high level.
“Hopefully it is because of the detail we go into with them at this stage of their development.”
Albion secured their first win of the Premier League South season when they beat Southampton 2-0 last Saturday.
“They are good learners. We only have to tell them instructions once and they do it and buy into it,” said Beard.
“The coaching staff have done a really good job. We are doing a lot of work on both in-possession and out-of-possession training and it’s been a really fruitful time.
“Even before the win over Southampton we have been playing well. We have started off playing the three teams that finished in the top three last season. We drew 1-1 against Chelsea, and with no disrespect to anyone, it could have scored seven or eight. We had so many chances.
“The following week we played Fulham and were in control, but then went down to ten men for a professional foul after 20 minutes. We ran out of steam late on and they scored two late goals.
“Then we played Tottenham and created 19 chances – if we have come away 6-2 winners, I don’t think anyone would have had any complaints. Against Southampton we converted those chances – we created 21 and in four matches we have created 66 altogether.
“We’re very good going forward. They’re getting in the right areas, we just need to start converting the chances. On the flipside, we have worked on a lot of defensive stuff during pre-season and they have implemented it really well.
“If you take away the Fulham game, we have been good in that area. That’s not just defenders, that’s the whole team.”