Albion Under-18s were defeated by local rivals Aston Villa on Tuesday afternoon.
The Baggies almost stormed into an early advantage when Harry French burst through a pocket of space in the visiting defence, but the team’s top scorer could only drill an effort marginally wide.
Though Villa soon made their mark on proceedings, just after George Shaw’s tackle smuggled counterattack was smuggled behind for a corner. The resulting set-piece found its way to centre-half Finlay Barnard to make no mistake, firing home the opener.
But the hosts were keen to regain a foothold in the match just moments later, as Ryan Colesby showed incredible composure to sit several defenders down and slot home the opener.
The quickfire goals continued, this time for the visitors, though. Alfie Lynskey took aim from distance and rolled a cool finish past the trialist goalkeeper, which smacked both posts on its way over the line.
Left with work to do as the first half trickled on, Albion hoped to overturn the deficit once again. Skipper Dauda Iddrisa raced into the box, but saw his low strike parried away, before Matt Crowther’s curling shot - which seemed destined for the top corner - met the same fate.
As a slower second period started, Jaiden Francis-Caesar snatched at a presentable chance and was unable to make a clean connection towards goal, but Chay Thompson’s men weren’t far away from their second equaliser of the afternoon.
It was midfielder Crowther who got it; he rose highest to meet Alfie Maughan’s looping cross, leaving the Villa goalkeeper with no chance and the game in the balance heading into the final 25 minutes.
Trialist B hit the bar in the closing stages, but it was the visitors who had the final say on proceedings. Markie Meade took two bites of the cherry to slam away the eventual winner and end the match at 3-2.
The Baggies have a short wait for their next U18 Premier League South match, as they host Crystal Palace this weekend before ending their season away at Tottenham Hotspur - Albion remain 5th in the division.
Albion: Trialist A (GK); Asomugha, Perkins (Trialist B 58’), Shaw; Iddrisa, Crowther, Blackshields (Bastafield 58’), Crowther, Maughan; Colesby, French (Seven-Seven 58’), Francis-Caesar (Dexter 80’).
