STEFFAN Morrison's double proved to be nothing more than a consolation as a young Albion Under-18s side suffered a 4-2 home defeat by Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
The Baggies' XI included four 15 years olds, while the visitors had four 19 year olds in their side for the FA Premier Academy League clash.
Morrison's brace kept Michael Appleton's men in the game to make the score 3-2 at the break.
But a harsh second-half penalty secured victory for Forest.
"It was a difficult day for the lads because we had four 15 year olds against four 19 year olds so there was a big difference in age and physicality," said Appleton.
"To be fair to the lads I couldn't have any gripes because we played some fantastic stuff.
"Yet again, if you don't put your chances in the back of the net, you don't deserve to win.
"We missed numerous opportunities.
"We were a goal down after ten seconds because of a mistake by one of the young lads.
"We equalised but then they scored again because of another mistake.
"In the first 15 to 20 minutes the lads looked a bit nervous.
"Their staff were very complimentary about the way our lads played considering the ages they are.
"The good thing is that we had four lads out there who could play in the youth team for the next four years.
"We made some costly errors but in the attacking third we came to life.
"This week we're going to work on attacking in wide areas because sometimes we lack width and make life easier for the opposition."
ALBION (4-4-2): Allsopp, Hurst, Clarke, Pike, Downing; Nichols, Labadie, Saeid, Lake-Gaskin; Alliyu, Morrison (Knight 65). Subs not used: Nardiello, Worrall.
Women
Albion ladies thrashed TNS 7-0 yesterday in the Midland Combination Main League.
Erin Hicken smashed a hat-trick, Laura McQuilkin bagged a double and Hayley Phillipowsky and Jess Lippiatt also got on the scoresheet.
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