West Brom debrief: Carlos Corberan has FA Cup respect, Dike & impressive kids

Albion sailed into the FA Cup fourth round with a comfortable 4-1 victory over Aldershot Town.

Carlos Corberan’s youthful Baggies made sure there was no first hurdle banana skin and they look forward to a date in round four at the end of the month.

We assess some talking points from The Hawthorns success in the latest debrief.

Youthful exuberance

What a proud day it was for the club’s academy and it was great to see hard-working staff there to enjoy it.

Eleven of Corberan’s 20-man squad were products of the youth set-up, highlighting its sheer importance. That was not the head coach doing a disservice to the competition – he only handed days off to three available senior players in Alex Palmer, Darnell Furlong and Conor Townsend – but more a nod to the talent. Graduates Josh Griffiths, Caleb Taylor, Tom Fellows and Jovan Malcolm, were also in from the off.

Albion’s starting average age was 24.9 years and the entire squad’s was 23.5. With a few older heads in there – that’s a fantastic effort. It was a proud day.

Kids are all right

It was a day Fenton Heard, Harry Whitwell, Josh Shaw, Akeel Higgins and Layton Love won’t forget in front of 16,000 fans, but it was Heard and Whitwell who really shone.