Under-18s undone by Baggies

Our Under-18s let a 2-0 lead slip away, losing 3-2 at home to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.

After being let off the hook a handful of times in the opening stages of the game, we took control amidst a good spell in the middle of the first half with Jamel Beggs and Reiss Elliott-Parris netting their first goals at this level.

But the Baggies grabbed a lifeline in first-half stoppage time when Divine Onyemachi was afforded an opportunity to pick out the bottom corner, before Noah Dupont's header from a corner and another strike from Onyemachi completed the turnaround after the interval.

With three regular starters away with England Under-17s and a couple more on the injury list, coach Stuart Lewis shuffled his pack for the game at Hotspur Way. By the end, he was left with plenty to ponder after an entertaining contest that produced chances aplenty for both sides.

Tynan Thompson tested Baggies goalkeeper Louis Brady from distance a couple of times early on as we looked to press forward, but we still afforded the visitors their fair share of opportunities to take the lead, Onyemachi firing two good chances over the bar before the excellent Sam Archer bailed out his defence twice in as many minutes, denying both Adam Okorodud and Rio Parmar one-on-one.

We began to ramp up the pressure and found a deserved breakthrough on 27 minutes when Thompson burst into the box from the left and set up Ronny Moncur, his shot was blocked on the line but midfielder Beggs was on hand to convert the loose ball. Moncur's subsequent ball in towards the near post was spilled by Brady, with George Feeney this time denied by a goal-line block from Dupont, although it didn't take us long to add a second as Roman Egan-Riley's ball out from the back allowed Moncur to spin in behind the defence, Brady saved his tame effort but Elliott-Parris was well placed to clip home the rebound, making it 2-0 with 40 minutes on the watch.

Miracle Adewole and Elliott-Parris went close as we seemed in firm control in the lead-up to the break, but when Onyemachi got forward in the left channel for West Brom two minutes into added time, he picked out the bottom corner to make it 2-1.

That changed the complexion of the game and after a couple of near-misses for the Baggies, they equalised on 57 minutes when Dupont nodded home Alfie Maughon's corner. They subsequently forged ahead with 14 minutes remaining as Onyemachi picked up a cross-field ball, drifted in off the left side and fired emphatically into the far corner.

We tried to find a response but were largely restricted by the visitors, with our best effort coming on the 90-minute mark when Calum Logan set up Harry Byrne for a curling shot towards the far post, but Brady saved it away to his left. Late pressure followed with goalkeeper Archer operating on the half-way line as we pushed high up the pitch, but there was no way through as we slipped to back-to-back defeats in the Under-18 Premier League.