Albion teens win national cup

The Baggies under-15s beat Everton in a penalty shoot-out to win the final of the English tournament at Warwick University and claim a place in the world finals in August.

The international finals will be held at Manchester United's Carrington training complex and will feature some of the world's biggest clubs.

Baggies academy manager Mark Harrison said: "It was a fantastic achievement for the boys and all of our hard-working staff.

"Previous winners of this tournament include Arsenal, Middlesbrough, West Ham, Everton and Manchester City.

"If you look at their Academy credentials, they've got great records of producing players for their first teams.

"We haven't even completed our fourth year as an Academy yet so to win the most prestigious tournament in the country so soon is a real plus for the club.

"Of all the past teams to have won the Nike Premier Cup, there are a long list of players who have gone on to play for their first teams. That's an indication we're heading in the right direction."

The Baggies won five and drew one of their six group games to progress to final of the Under-15s competition.

Teams from Albion, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, West Ham, Newcastle, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Blackburn, Bolton, Everton, Villa, Portsmouth, Fulham and Manchester City, Birmingham, Derby, Sheffield United, Reading and Coventry took part and the Baggies won their group to reach the quarter-finals.

They beat Newcastle, Derby and Tottenham and drew with Blackburn in the group with Adil Nabi, Johnny Kaye, Aaron Birch and Bradley Garmston all scoring.

Alex Jones and Joel Ambalu scored as they beat Bolton 2-1 in the last eight and Nabi scored the only goal of the semi-final against Blues.

The final against Everton finished goalless but keeper Shane Lewis's penalty save earned Albion a 8-7 sudden death success.

Harrison said: "It was a fantastic performance from the boys,. In seven games we kept five clean sheets.

"We also got many complimentary remarks, from the likes of Sir Trevor Brooking, about our style of play and philosophy.

"We weren't just complimented on winning, but the way we won it."

Albion will now represent the Premier League and FA at the World finals in four months time.

The group stages, featuring the likes of Real Madrid and Juventus, were played at Carrington and the final, which saw Brazil's Fluminese beat Mexico's FC Atlas, was staged at Old Trafford.