Ruth: Extra motivation to win derby key to 10-0 victory over Palace

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Our men's under-21s head coach reflects on the incredible win.

Charlie Hanson

2024-10-08T06:00+01:00

Josh Duffus added another goal to his tally for the campaign. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

Men's under-21s head coach Shannon Ruth couldn’t have been happier with the way his team kept trying to score goals right into the final minutes of their 10-0 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Having been 2-0 up at half-time, Albion may well have redefined the meaning of 'relentless' as they struck eight times in the second 45 minutes, with five coming after the 70-minute mark.

“It was certainly a really good day for us, there's loads and loads of positives to take,” Shannon said. “It was a really ruthless display from the players.

“We weren't actually that pleased with the first half. We thought we got into good positions, but we didn't capitalise on our chances. Then in the second half, the players were excellent.

“It's a lot about hunger and appetite, going after the opponent and being intense with your work. The players really showed that.

“Also with it being a derby there’s that extra motivation for the group to keep going, to keep scoring and creating. It gets to a point where the lads are doing so well that everybody wants to get on the score sheet.

“We want to dominate the game with the ball, and we want to be nasty without it and hard to beat, and on Saturday the boys did that fantastically.”

Josh Duffus added another goal to his tally for the campaign. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

The afternoon marked Solly March’s return to action after a year out with a serious knee injury, with the 30-year-old getting 25 minutes under his belt.

“It was a really positive day for Solly,” Shannon continued. “It was great to have him back on the pitch and hopefully it’s a really positive step forward for him. We were delighted that he was able to join us and be a part of the group.

“He's a role model to all our young players that come through the academy. It was a great day for him.”

The margin of the victory was naturally the eye-catching stat of the day, but the cleansheet was Albion’s fourth in six Premier League 2 games.

Hugo Fisher kept a cleansheet in the win over Palace, with the keeper making a fantastic save in the second half. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

“We’re dominant as a team. We develop our young players to be comfortable in possession and try to dominate the game with the ball.

“What that means is that we have to have extra awareness out of possession. We have to drum that home every day. The players are really aware of that.

“We're aware that when you're a possession based team you're trying to get players into the senior environment. We definitely don't want the perception that we're just pretty.

“We want to show that we can graft, we can fight, we can battle and that clean sheets are important to us.”