Albion Under-21s kick-off their 2026/27 season with a trip to Woking in the National League Cup on Tuesday evening (ko 7.45pm).
Leigh Downing’s young charges will experience their third consecutive campaign in the competition this term - with stern tests against fifth and sixth-tier opponents on the horizon.
And Woking should provide a test indeed, despite back-to-back defeats in their first two Enterprise National League matches.
Venue
The Baggies will travel to The Laithwaite Community Stadium, home of the Cardinals on Tuesday.
The hosts still have interim duo Jake Hyde and Craig Ross on the touchline following England international Jermain Defoe’s departure in July after four months, and just six matches in charge.
After losing both of their opening league clashes - Hyde & Ross’ main objective will be to steady the ship in the meantime - and this week’s National League Cup tie could be the place to start.
Pre-match thoughts
Senior Professional Development Phase Coach Downing is set for his second season at the helm of the Baggies’ U21s.
Their campaign begins at The Laithwaite Community Stadium on Tuesday evening, which also marks the start of one of their four competitions they’re set to take part in this season.
And while their domestic tournaments against other academy sides provide the benchmark at their age level, facing senior professional opposition can offer a completely different challenge in itself.
With a solid pre-season under their belt, where they faced a variety of senior and academy sides - Downing wants his team to show the country the “calibre” of players available to the Baggies - starting in the clash with Woking.
He said: “Once those matches are upon you after pre-season, you’re naturally always looking forward to competitive games. None more so than the National League Cup, because the players enjoy playing in-front of fans as they will do.
“The level the opposition play at due to being in the National League probably holds more weight than the usual games programme, and it’s a competition we’d like to improve our standing in. We got our first win in the tournament last season, and if we can build on that, it would be brilliant.
“The boys can also see the likes of Harry Whitwell going on loan to Forest Green Rovers last season after playing against them in this competition, I know they’d want to emulate that and put themselves in a great position for a senior loan moving forwards.
“Pre-season has been really positive for us, we had good numbers to work with. We’ve managed to get lots of technical and tactical work into the players, alongside the physical stuff so their fitness levels are high.
“We had a good mix of games, we played against some men’s teams to give the lads a taste of what that might be like if they went out on loan, then the PFA side which had plenty of professional senior players, and we finished off with trips to Leicester City and Wolves PGA.
“If the boys earn the right to a place in the team, no matter their age, they’ll look to play moving forwards. A lot of the U18s are bringing the successes of their season last term, and they want to achieve things this year.
“We want to try and finish in the top 16 of PL2, and that will be a target to try and ensure we can play in the National League Cup and the Premier League International Cup next time. The mindset from the lads will be that no matter who we play this year, we want to perform and show people the calibre of players we’ve got in the building.
“With the National League Cup, when you look at the likes of Forest Green Rovers and Boreham Wood, who we played last year, the latter of which nearly got promoted, it’s always good to pit ourselves against those types of teams. A lot of learning took place in this competition last year, and I expect it to be no different tis time around.
“We want to play the way we want to, and not be dominated in terms of physicality, we want to stand up and show we can play when we have the opportunity. Woking have added a few players to their group and we’re expecting a tough challenge to see how we go.”
How to follow
Tuesday’s opening National League Cup group match between the Baggies and Woking will be streamed live from The Laithwaite Community Stadium.
Supporters will need a My Albion account to watch along, with the feed available from 15 minutes before kick-off (7.30pm) here.
Updates will be provided across the Albion social media channels too.
