Quote Originally Posted by Loramski View Post
I'd say it was the midfield 3 who were tiring the most but we only had wingers and full backs on the bench. Mafico's energy would've been handy. Spiers had a good game, Nyakhuwa faded a bit but was still a threat to the end and Conte was the fittest player on the pitch so they didn't really need replacing. Beecher came on for Spiers in the end but it didn't change much.

WBA were big, strong and athletic but we stood up to them and counter attacked well. Neither keeper had much to do but I felt we got into dangerous positions more often than they did, for all the possession they had. The attitude was spot on, from back to front, everyone worked hard, stuck to their tasks, threw themselves into blocks and tackles and I never really felt a goal was coming until they finally opened us up after 90 minutes. We didn't buckle and could've won it in extra time, Simic's miss looked like a bad one although I was right up the other end so didn't have a great view of it.

By the way, I'm sure it was Dan Ola I saw going past on crutches earlier with a brace on his left foot. Shame if so, he'd been having a good season.
It was the best game I’ve seen Conte play for the under 21s and I agree that he looked fitter than his teammates in extra time. He could have been moved into midfield and Beecher brought on to play left back or Perrett dropped deeper with Conte replacing Wigley as a winger. I also agree that West Brom’s equaliser came as a surprise - they suddenly discovered a cutting edge they hadn’t shown before and promptly lost it again after they scored, but the ball was coming back at us all of the time and something usually cracks in the end when that’s happening.

Extra time was more even and, as you say, we had the best chance through Simic who claimed his shot had been deflected by a defender, but I couldn’t see one on the numerous replays they showed. The fact we were able to push forward more in extra time was surprising - West Brom would have been tired as well, but I just hope we weren’t playing under orders for most of the second half.