Professional development phase coach James Baxter was delighted with his team as they secured two wins in the space of four days.
The under-18s thumped West Bromwich Albion 7-1 on Saturday in Premier League South, before kicking off the defence of their Premier League Under-17s Cup on Tuesday with a 4-2 win over Chelsea, having won the competition last season.
That marked the opening game of the group stages, with Albion also set to face Reading and Southampton.
“We want to retain the title, so it’s a great start for us against a really good Chelsea team,” Baxter said. “The competition allows us to bring in the younger players in, so there’s a good mix of age groups.
“The first 20 minutes we were really positive and went 2-0 up. We repeated that in the second half with another two goals, but then in the last 15 minutes it was back to the walls defending as Chelsea looked to get something from the game.
“But that’s a good experience in itself for these boys as they had to demonstrate that they’re as comfortable defending as they are going forward and they did that.”
The victory over the Baggies saw Marcus Ifill net a hat-trick of goals and assists, as Albion moved up to fifth in the league – making it three wins from their opening five games.
Baxter continued, “It was a very good display from us. It was one of those games where everything fell into place for us and we were very clinical.
“It was quite an even game, both teams had six chances in the first half, but we scored five of our six which put us in the ascendancy. We dipped a little bit in the second half for 20 minutes which is when they scored, but our plan was to win the second half which we did.
“It was a great achievement at this level to win by that margin and we scored some really good goals. We’re in a good place at the moment, we’re playing well and getting results through that. There’s been good developments for individuals, as well as as a group.”
Albion are next in league action this Saturday at Aston Villa.