Professional development phase coach James Baxter has been pleased with the start Albion’s under-18s have made to their league campaign.
After an opening day win against Birmingham City, Albion suffered a frustrating 1-0 home defeat to Leicester City, before drawing 2-2 with Arsenal, with Leigh Kavanagh and Samy Chouchane getting on the scoresheet.
“We’ve been impacted by Covid-19 and a few injuries, while some of the boys have spent time with the under-23s,” Baxter said. “As we get into the rhythm of the new season we are seeing the squad pull together and that’s been really healthy.
“The first three games have been good. The game against Leicester City was a bump in the road, but apart from that we’re progressing nicely.”
Baxter was proud of the way his team responded to the defeat to the Foxes, despite conceding late on against the Gunners.
“We were the better team against Arsenal. Our build-up from the back was good and that reflected in our play in the middle third – we were creating and combining well.
“We just lacked a little in the final third. But overall I am pleased, we feel we should have come away with three points given we were 2-1 up with two minutes to go, but we put in a good performance.
“The boys were disappointed not to have won the game. To get so close and knowing they were the better team on the day was disappointing but they showed a reaction from the previous week, a really positive change in mindset, There was a good flow to our game and work ethic.
“There was a bit of everything behind the reaction to the Leicester defeat. We analysed the game and showed the boys where we thought they could be better and training was geared around hitting those levels. Credit to the players, we can give them the tools, but they need to use that to react and they did.”