West Brom u21s 4 Juventus 2: Albion youngsters claim impressive win over Italian visitors

The Italian's 'Next Gen' outfit of youngsters - who represent the great Turin club in the third tier - were no match for Leigh Downing's hosts who were deserving of their victory, their first of the season in all competitions.

Jack Bray was the Baggies hero with two neatly-taken goals after a calamitous own goal from Juve's Bruno Martinez Crous gave flashbacks of Keith Curle's infamous Black Country Derby horrorshow to open the scoring.

Late substitute Rio Parmar, who has excelled for the under-18s, netted a stoppage-time fourth to put the contest to bed after the visitors struck late.

It was the perfect response to last week's 3-0 defeat to Danes FC Nordsjaelland at The Hawthorns and saw Downing's youngsters impress in front of watching first-team boss Ryan Mason.

The victory lifts Albion up to fourth in their eight-team group in the early stages of the competition, with German visitors Borussia Monchengladbach next to visit these shores to tackle the Baggies at the Alexander Stadium on October 29.

A low-key start saw possession shared between the sides as Downing's hosts initially made most of the running before the visitors had more of a spell.

But goalmouth action was extremely limited with both sides wasteful with the ball and struggling to unlock anything in the final third. The Juve youngsters certainly lacked the sharpness and technical ability of that of Nordsjaelland last week.

Albion kept Juventus to pot shots from range, all a long way off target. The only real trouble in the Baggies backline - marshalled by the confident Jamal Mohammed - was with a couple of rushed or mistimed clearances from goalkeeper Brian Okonkwo which almost landed his side in hot water.

Home midfielder Matty Crowther drew a routine stop from Simone Scaglia after half hour.

Mohammed, who caught the eye with some good work, was fortunate to get away with a sliced clearance but Luca Amaradio's effort was blocked.

The first half looked set to stutter to a half-time stalemate but there was time for a comical moment seven minutes before the interval.

There was little danger on when defender Crous looked for his goalkeeper, but in a moment inspired by Curle, then of Wolves, he managed to find the back of his own net.

Crous, out to the right of the box, had not noticed keeper Scaglia was to the left of his six-yard box and the ball rolled agonizingly over the goalline.

The opener sparked some aggression from the ruffled visitors as a couple of cautions followed before the Baggies made it two on the stroke of half-time.

An Evan Humphries pass down the left out of defence was latched on to by Bray and the forward burst into the left of the box, showed some neat footwork to out-fox a recovering defender and lashed in at the near post.

Juventus heads had struggled to recover from the opener and despite a fairly muted start to the second period the hosts made it three eight minutes after the restart.

Bray had picked up a knock just after the break but stayed on long enough to finish coolly for his second, a cushioned side foot in the box when the ball dropped his way.

Downing was able to hand minutes to Kevin Mfuamba, back from injury, and new recruit Torin Ntege.

The visitors showed some heart and striker Diego Pugno converted an angled header from Gabriel Pebciuc's cross with 20 minutes left.

The Baggies were inches from a fine fourth as skipper Cole Deeming crashed the crossbar with a stunning 25-yard free-kick. Downing's youngsters were then forced to weather some pressure in the final quarter of an hour.

Albion, who introduced under-18s star Parmar late on, should have had a fourth but Miller McDonald blazed over from a narrow angle and Ntege did similar in stoppage time.

Juventus threatened late drama as Francesco Crapisto rifled in a 15-yard finish on 90 minutes, but Parmar had the last laugh from the bench with a memorable late fourth into the roof of the net.

Albion u21s (3-4-1-2): Okonkwo, Nelson, Diomande (DuPont, 79), Mohammed, Humphries, Deeming (c) (Parmar, 86), Crowther, Mandey (Mfumaba, 62), Maughan, Bray (Ntege, 62), Francis-Caesar (McDonald, 79).

Subs not used: Brady, Parker.

Juventus Next Gen: Scaglia, Savio (c), Van Aarle, Crapisto, Crous (Ceppi, 73), De Brul (Pebciuc, 63), Pagio (Gielen, 73), Ngana (Durmisi, 63), Pugno, Amaradio, Pagnucco.

Subs not used: Sylla, Bruno.

Attendance:

Referee: Oliver Mackey