AN early Baggies goal blitz earned Michael Appleton's men a deserved fourth successive win at Derby.

Goals from Zak Martin, Lateef Elford-Alliyu (pictured) and Ricky Nicholls fired the Baggies 3-0 up inside 20 minutes in this FA Premier Academy League inter-group clash.

The visitors created plenty of other chances but the game ran its course without further goals.

"It was a good performance," said Appleton.

"The conditions weren't great.

"It was really blustery but we just seemed to handle it better than Derby.

"We blitzed them during the first 20 minutes.

"We played a more attacking formation than usual due to the personnel we had available.

"The front six was really attack-minded so the back four had to be very disciplined - especially the full-backs.

"The system worked really well.

"The link-up play between the front three was excellent.

"We could have - and probably should have - been five or six up at half-time.

"We limited them to one chance in the second half and still created numerous opportunities."

The Under-18s are next in action in another inter-group fixture at Sunderland on April 12 (ko 1pm).