Albion’s men’s under-18s know that they will finish in sixth in Premier League South regardless of their result in their final league match of the campaign against Chelsea on Saturday.
Professional development phase coach Arthur Brammer doesn’t envisage his team letting up though, given it’s been a positive campaign for his team.
“It’s been really pleasing,” he said. “They’ve been an excellent group of boys to work with who’ve had to dig deep at times. There’s been good individual and team development and it’s pleasing to see them get the rewards they deserve.
“The performances have been good and we’ve got a top half finish. But the most important thing is that the players have been stretched and have progressed – there’s young players who have made the step up to our group, from our group to the 21s and from there up to the first team like Odel Offiah, who made his Premier League debut on Wednesday.
"Now we want to finish it off in style against a strong Chelsea team.”
The MU18s head into Saturday’s game off the back of a fantastic 3-2 win over second place Fulham last weekend.
“It was an excellent result against a strong side,” Brammer added. We felt that we suffered at times, especially in the first 20 minutes, but Joe Knight scored two fantastic free-kicks as well as a special finish by Josh Duffus.
"Then we had to hold on at the end, and I am really pleased with the resilience shown by the team.”