James Shan’s side march on after another win
ALBION brushed aside Arsenal 6-2 to earn a third-successive victory in the Barclays Under-18 Premier League at the club’s training ground on Saturday.
Goals from Ryan Pace, Rees Wedderburn, Alex Jones, Samir Nabi, Isaiah Brown and Ged Oldnall helped the Baggies record a comfortable triumph over the Gunners.
Albion remain fourth in the league and a win in next weekend’s final group-stage fixture at Bolton could see the Baggies qualify for the Elite League which begins in the New Year.
James Shan’s side currently reside in fourth position with West Ham, who travel to Blackburn, clinging onto third position by virtue of a superior goal difference of just one.
The Baggies recorded only four points from their opening seven games and Shan is impressed with the manner in which his players have turned their season around.
“I’m pleased for the lads as after seven games we only had four points,” said Shan.
“We had a meeting after seven games and we set some targets for the remaining seven.
“I’m impressed with how the lads have recovered after what was a difficult start to the season.
“Since then we’ve taken 13 points from the last 18 available.
“It’s been an unbelievable change, and, though we’re in a developmental business where we want to get boys into the Under-21s and then boys into the first team, we also want to win.
“We scored three goals in four minutes on Saturday at the beginning of the second half and I was really impressed with how the boys played during that period.
“We created lots of good chances and we played plenty of good football.”
ALBION: Palmer; Francis (Buchannon 65), McCalla, Greenidge, Smart; Pace, S Nabi, Barrow, Wedderburn (Ambalu 64); Jones, I Brown (Oldnall 62). Subs not used: Lewis (gk).