Albion knocked out of Premier League Cup

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Our under-18s were unable to progress to the knockout stages.

Charlie Hanson

2023-11-27T07:00:00Z

Layth Gulzar scored a late penalty to make it 3-3 at Leicester City's training ground.

Layth Gulzar’s late penalty snatched a point for our under-18s at Leicester City in the Premier League Cup on Saturday, although it wasn’t enough to see Inigo Calderon’s team reach the knockout stages.

The Under-18s had drawn 3-3 with Sunderland in their previous outing, and three goals in five minutes at Leicester City’s Seagrave training ground setup another entertaining encounter.

Albion went behind after 25 minutes when Jacob Vickers diverted a cross past his own keeper, but Sahil Bashir equalised from an exquisite free-kick four minutes later, bending an effort from 25 yards into the top left corner.

And then just a minute later Joe Belmont put his team in front as he slid home from a low cross.

Yassin Toure made it 2-2 in the third minute of first-half stoppage time as he rolled the ball home from a good pass across goal.

A second Albion own goal restored the Foxes’ lead in the 49th minute when Zane Albarus deflected a cutback into his own net.

But with the game deep inside second half added time, Gulzar showed a calm head to roll home from the penalty spot.

The drama wasn’t over either, as Gulzar and Kristen Otchere were both shown red cards late on.

Under-18s head coach Calderon said, “It was a strange game. We had two centre-backs go off injured which isn’t ideal or part of the game plan. But I don’t think we showed enough to go through.

"We were a lot better in the last 30 minutes – we created chances and we missed a penalty that could have helped us win. But we have to be better with and without the ball.”