BARTOSZ Slusarski scored his third goal in two reserves games to set Albion on their way to a convincing 4-2 victory over Port Vale.

The Polish hitman opened the scoring in the tenth minute and Sherjill MacDonald shone again as he capped his man-of-the-match performance by notching for the second successive second-string encounter in the 73^rd minute.

Michael Nardiello's 21^st-minute effort and substitute Stefan Morrison's 72^nd-minute strike, to follow his double in the Under-18s' 2-0 win over Stoke on Saturday, completed the hosts' scoring.

Vale grabbed late consolations in the Pontin's Holidays League Division One (Central) clash thanks to Charlie O'Loughlin and Danny Glover in the 75^th and 88^th minutes respectively.

Slusarski opened the scoring in bizarre fashion.

Nardiello headed David Worrall's right-wing cross back across goal and a hesitant O'Loughlin saw his poor clearance rebound off Albion's Polish hitman and into the net.

Nardiello made a run down the right two minutes later before feeding Worrall, who turned neatly only to fire over.

A bustling run from the halfway line by Tininho in the 20^th minute resulted in the pint-sized full-back shooting into the side-netting from 20 yards.

But just a minute later Joss Labadie switched the ball to Worrall on the right and he jinked his way to the edge of the box before dummying to shoot and teeing up Nardiello, who saw his shot deflect past goalkeeper Chris Martin to double Albion's lead.

Shelton Martis almost let Vale back into the game in the 25^th minute when he misjudged the bounce of the ball and allowed Calum Willock to race in on goal.

The visitors' striker saw his ten-yard effort palmed away by Luke Daniels and Simon Richman could only find the side-netting from the rebound despite having the goal at his mercy.

On the half-hour mark Glover ran across the edge of the box before firing just past the right-hand post.

Pele responded for the Baggies seven minutes later when he broke and spread the ball to the left for MacDonald to burst into the box and see his effort parried by Martin.

Unfortunately there was no-one on hand to convert the rebound for the hosts.

Six minutes before the break Tininho crossed from the left for Slusarski to rattle the crossbar with a close-range header.

Albion started the second-half on the attack when Labadie blazed a shot over from 30 yards in the 50^th minute.

MacDonald crossed for Worrall six minutes later but he could only fire straight at Martin.

On the hour-mark Jared Hodgkiss curled a dipping 30-yard free-kick over the wall but into the arms of Martin.

In the 68^th minute Worrall burst through midfield and found substitute Morrison, who sent his half-volley over from the right-hand side of the area.

A swift break by the Baggies in the 72^nd minute set MacDonald free down the left wing.

The on-loan Dutch striker squared for Worrall and he cut the ball back for Morrison to smash home from ten yards.

A minute later MacDonald outpaced three Vale players before firing into the left-hand corner of the net to make it 4-0.

Substitute Luke Chapman centred for O'Loughlin to net a flick-header in the 75^th minute despite Daniels getting a hand to the ball.

And, when Albion failed to clear the ball two minutes from time, Glover pulled another one back with a crisp finish from ten yards.

But it was nothing more than a consolation for the visitors as Craig Shakespeare's men ran out comfortable winners.

ALBION (4-4-2): Daniels; Hodgkiss, Martis, Manchester, Tininho; Worrall (Saied 88), Labadie (Nichols 64), Pele, MacDonald; Nardiello (S Morrison 64), Slusarski. Subs not used: Mason, Lake-Gaskin.

PORT VALE (4-4-2): Martin; Lowe, O'Loughlin (Crompton 90+1), Prosser, Copeland; Richman, Davidson, Dixon (Chapman 70), Edwards; Glover, Willock. Subs not used: Branch, Ransome, Bown.

GOALS: ALBION - Slusarski (10), Nardiello (21), S Morrison (72), MacDonald (73); PORT VALE - O'Loughlin (75), Glover (88).

REFEREE: P Gibbs.

ATTENDANCE: 257.

ALBION STARMAN: Sherjill MacDonald. 

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