ALBION Under-18s secured their third successive FA Premier Academy League (Group C) draw in a 3-3 thriller with Crewe on Saturday.

The Baggies took the lead through Lateef Elford-Alliyu in the tenth minute before Alexandra battled back to grab a 2-1 lead at the break.

Romain Sawyers pulled the hosts level in the 70^th minute but Crewe restored their one-goal advantage with only five minutes to go.

Albion were not to be outdone, however, and Stefan Morrison slotted home a penalty at the death to take a share of the spoils.

"We were in total control of the game for the first 20 minutes and should have been three or four goals up," said Baggies coach Michael Appleton.

"They got back into the game with a penalty and then took the lead and Gavin Carlin stopped us from conceding another couple of goals.

"I changed the shape of the team five minutes into the second half because they were getting too much possession in the middle of the park.

"We pretty much had the whole of the second half and peppered their goal.

"We got it back to 2-2 but then they caught us on the break with five minutes to go and we were thinking it was going to be another hard-luck story.

"But the lads won a penalty, which Stefan Morrison tucked away.

"I was chuffed to bits with the way the lads came from behind.

"Their attitude was first class and they're showing signs of where we want to get to."

ALBION (4-4-2): Carlin; Mason, Manchester, Holmes, Martin; Saeid (Morrison 55), Bruce (Knight 35), Worrall, Compton; Sawyers (Lake-Gaskin 70), Elford-Alliyu. Subs not used: Lloyd-Weston (gk), Pike.

Women

Albion Ladies cruised through to the County Cup semi-finals yesterday thanks to a thumping 13-0 win over Walsall Dev.

Hayley Phillipowsky smashed home seven times and Abbie Hinton bagged a brace to add to Hayley Moore, Kayleigh Steele, Natasha Baptiste and Erin Hicken strikes.

The cup victory followed up a 2-2 draw with Leicester City Ladies (Phillipowsky and Katie Harris) and a 5-2 win over TNS (Phillipowsky 2, Hinton, Moore, Baptiste) in their two opening Midland Combination Main League fixtures of the New Year.

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