Shannon Ruth was delighted with the performance from his team last night as our under-21s started their Premier League International Cup campaign with victory against Feyenoord.
Goals either side of half-time from Todd Miller and Marcus Ifill secured all three points against their Dutch visitors, and Ruth praised his side for sticking to their game plan.
The head coach said, “We have an identity and a philosophy to abide by and we work really hard as a club from top to bottom to do that – and I think we did exactly that last night.
“The players committed to the strategy on the ball. They showed courage under some real pressure and we played with good spirit and togetherness.
“I thought Feyenoord were excellent, they were tough to play against and pressed us hard, but we stood strong and it served us well.”
The goals from Miller and Ifill means Albion have now scored 12 in four games under Ruth since he took over from Andrew Crofts, but he was just as pleased with the defensive qualities on show.
“We’re scoring a lot of goals and looking good going forward but we want to work on being hard to beat and we were certainly that last night,” he added.
“As a group, we talk a lot about doing whatever it takes to help your mate out. We are committed to putting the team first and even when we lost the ball the reaction from the boys was always to get back and make sure the loss of possession didn’t hurt the team.
“To grind out a clean sheet was really important to us, and the togetherness of the side was pleasing.”
The togetherness was further highlighted by the fact Ruth used all five of his substitutes.
“We want to do well in all competitions, and to do that we need to make use of the full squad. Five subs came on and they all contributed to us getting over the line.
“We have a three-game week. We’ve already beaten West Ham and Feyenoord, and are now looking ahead to Chelsea in Premier League 2 on Sunday. We’re going to need the full group to be ready again.
“I know they will be, and we’ll be raring to go.”