Albion Under-18s won a crazy FA Youth Cup tie against Harrogate Town 6-4 to seal their spot in the fourth round on Thursday night.
Leigh Downing’s troops were ahead 4-2 in normal time courtesy of Cole Deeming’s brace, as well as efforts from Rhys Morrish and Ollie Bostock.
Town battled back to send the game to extra time in North Yorkshire, however, the young Baggies showed spirit and resilience to overcome their opponents at the Exercise Stadium – with Rio Parmar and Trialist netting twice more to confirm their progress in the tournament.
The young boys from the Black Country had a gilt-edged chance to make the breakthrough during the opening minutes of the tie when Dauda Iddrisa was put through on goal. Still, he hesitated, allowing Town shot-stopper Frankie Shepherd to fumble the visitors’ golden early opportunity.
From then on, the hosts had a good spell; Jack Bray enjoying a few efforts on goal – the most threatening forcing Louis Brady into a fine fingertip save. Unfortunately, the keeper was soon picking the ball out of the net when Harrogate made their pressure count on 26 minutes.
Centre-half Morrish gave the ball away in the middle, allowing Lucas Barnes to run on and fire a pinpoint finish into the bottom corner.
It would’ve been easy to feel down about his error but, instead, the Wales U18 international scored to level matters, taking advantage of a bobble from a deflected shot on the edge of the home box by volleying into the roof of the net – ensuring parity was restored at the interval.
By comparison, the first 45 was a quiet affair as a dramatic half of football took the match to extra-time.
The Baggies went ahead for the first time in the match courtesy of some Bostock brilliance – mazing past three defenders before slamming into the bottom corner. His influence continued further when he won a penalty, which Deeming duly dispatched for 3-1.
Bray eventually capitalised on his good performance by reducing the deficit to 3-2, but Deeming soon brought the two-goal difference back into effect – curling a beautiful free-kick in off the underside of the bar for 4-2.
Things soon fell apart for Downing’s boys, though, with Chester Gregory making it 4-3 prior to the end of regular time, and Bray weaving through most of Albion’s defence to net an unthinkable, stoppage-time equaliser.
As a result, another 30 minutes were needed and extra-time began well for the away team thanks to Parmar’s goal, which came following a poor header back to goal by a Town defender, setting up the attacking-midfielder to coolly roll in for 5-4.
A tense finish ensued with both sides tiring, but the Baggies secured their spot in the fourth round when Trialist received the ball in the box and curled into the top corner for the visitors’ sixth in the 123rd minute – rounding off a memorable night in the competition for Downing’s boys.
Albion: Brady, Maughan, Morrish, Dupont, Iddrisa (Trialist 120+1), Deeming (c), Crowther, Parmar (Okorodudu 116), Onyemachi (Letlat 70), Chimeziri (Blackshields 105), Bostock.
Substitutes: Wilkes, Sears, Cherchi.
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