Three Baggies academy graduates all experienced more senior football for their respective loan sides over the weekend.
Harry Whitwell, who recently picked up Forest Green Rovers’ Player of the Month award for October, completed 90 minutes for the Enterprise National League high-flyers once again on Saturday as they recorded a 3-1 success at home to Gateshead.
The hosts were 3-0 up at the break following efforts from Jili Buyabu, Temi Babalola and Jayden Clarke. Jacob Butterfield scored a 95th-minute consolation for the visitors at The New Lawn in Nailsworth.
Victory puts Whitwell’s outfit top of the table on 41 points from 19 matches played. Rochdale in second have one point less, but have two fixtures in hand.
Elsewhere, winger Akeel Higgins came on in the 70th minute for Exeter City who slipped to a narrow 2-1 reverse at Leyton Orient in Sky Bet League One.
The Baggies man replaced Jack Aitchison on an afternoon where the hosts came back from a goal down to collect all three points.
Jayden Wareham's first-half penalty had given the Grecians the lead, but two strikes inside five second-half minutes helped swing the game in Orient's favour, with both Idris El Mizouni and Tyreeq Bakinson on target.
The setback means Akeel's team are 20th in the third tier, two points clear of the danger zone after 16 games.
70 | A double change for City:
⬅️ Aitchison, Sweeney
➡️ Higgins, Yfeko
LEY 0-1 #ECFC | #SemperFidelis— Exeter City FC (@OfficialECFC) November 15, 2025
Finally, towering defender Michael Parker played the entirety of Hereford's 5-1 win at AFC Sudbury in the second round of the Isuzu FA Trophy.
The home team went ahead through Marcel Lewis in the middle of the first period, but an effort from Andrew Williams, a hat-trick from Sam Osborne and Eno Nto's late strike secured safe passage to the next stage of the tournament.
