ALBION Under-18s kicked off the New Year with an impressive 1-1 draw against second-placed Everton in the FA Premier Academy League (Group C) on Saturday.

The Baggies found themselves 1-0 down at the break due to a deflected strike.

But Michael Appleton's men battled back to level the score thanks to an own goal and missed late chances to take all three points.

The stalemate against the Toffees ended a run of seven straight defeats for Albion.

"I used a lot of young players before Christmas and I wanted to bring more competition for places in so I made use of our over-age players on Saturday," said Appleton.

"Using the three over-age players, as most clubs do week in, week out, gave me around 20 players to pick from.

"It brought a real competitiveness and intensity to training last week, which we've not had for a while.

"In the first half both teams were really poor, probably because of the Christmas break.

"It was a bit scrappy.

"In the second half we played some really good stuff and we grew in confidence.

"We missed three glorious opportunities in the last 15 minutes but restricted them to nothing at the other end.

"We probably deserved a win and we need to build on that for next week now."

ALBION (4-4-2): Carlin; Pike, Holmes, Manchester, Martin; Compton, Worrall, Samuels (Nicholls 80), Knight (Saeid HT); Sawyers, Nardiello (Alliyu 65). Subs not used: Lloyd-Weston, Bruce. 

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