Our under-18s secured a superb 4-2 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday despite being down to ten men for 50 minutes.
Albion took the lead after 20 minutes when Harry Mills’s deflected shot fell for Aidan West in the box, and he showed good composure to lift it over Palace keeper William Eastwood.
Sahil Bashir was then shown a second yellow card with 40 minutes gone and Palace equalised just two minutes later when Matteo Dashi headed in expertly.
Inigo Calderon’s team quickly restored their lead though. West was the provider this time as he forced Eastwood – who had ran out into no man’s land to clear – off the ball before teeing up Remiero Moulton who showed a cool head to lift the ball into the empty Palace net from 35 yards.
Clearly undeterred by being a man down, Albion extended their lead 15 minutes after the restart when Joe Belmont curled a wonderful effort into the top right corner from 25 yards, although Palace scored the goal of the game when Ty Whyte crossed in for Jesse Derry to acrobatically pull one back in stoppage time to make it 3-2.
It would prove to be nothing more than another consolation goal as from the kick-off Jaydon Fuller sidefooted home Harry Lee's cross.
Calderon said, “It was an amazing performance, but especially to play that way against your rivals. We’ve been progressing throughout the season, so I was really pleased to see us play that way, I enjoyed it so much.
“Even though we were one man down it didn’t feel like we were and checking the stats reflect that as well. We won it from the mental side which we showed until the end. That’s why I am so proud of them.
“They put the same hard work they show in training in the game. I am really happy.”