The talking points from Keys Park as West Brom Under-21s and Reading Under-21s play to a scoreless draw in Premier League Two

When West Brom Under-21s visited Reading in the Premier League 2 on Monday night, the game ended in a fairly boring goalless draw at Keys Park in Hednesfownrd To. Over the course of the evening, Richard Beale’s club, which included first-team center half Caleb Taylor and the return of Reyes Cleary after a roughly seven-month injury layoff, had several good opportunities but were unable to capitalize on them to hurt the Royals.

The best moment of the first half for the Baggies came from Cleary, who cut inside from the left and forced the opposition goalkeeper, Harvey Collins, to make a smart save. Eseosa Sule, a forward and second-half substitute, came the closest in the following forty-five minutes when he fired a long-range shot that was deflected over the bar.

Albion will play away at Reading in the Premier League Cup the following week, but for the time being, this puts an end to the league’s downward spiral after they had dropped their previous three encounters. These are Keys Park’s talking points.

This marked the first of five games in which Albion have not lost as this youthful team adjusts to the Premier League. It’s challenging; they haven’t won since the first game. While everyone at this level will correctly tell you that outcomes aren’t as important as performances, goals have generally been difficult to come by and opponents’ average caliber has gone up in this recently implemented league structure.

Following the game, Beale stated, “We look much more at the performances.” “I was really happy to see the boys react because we were unhappy in our performance in the previous game at Palace—we were a bit naïve and weak. We had superior fundamentals and were more difficult to play against.

“The manager is curious in the progress of a youthful group that attends numerous first-team training sessions. He shows a great deal of curiosity, which is great, but we must exercise patience because there are still a lot of young men who need to mature.”

Entering the Old Firm

After signing teenage winger Sule from Celtic in January, Beale gave athletic and imposing midfielder Souleyman Mandey, an ex-Rangers player, his first home start in the middle of the park with Harry Whitwell. In the first half, he was pretty much the player of choice.

Mandey, who joined The Hawthorns earlier in the season and made his debut for the 21st team last Monday at Crystal Palace after spending time with Leigh Downing and the under-18s, had a few shining moments. He’s a large boy, hard to miss. During this, he covered a lot of ground in challenging circumstances.

While Mandey did not play as well in the second half, overall it was a drab and lackluster second half compared to the first, which had been very interesting. Nevertheless, this was a respectable introduction to a player who appears to have poise on the ball and much more development potential in his game as a whole.

Making the blade sharp

Although there was no breakthrough or goal, this was nonetheless a helpful practice for striker Cleary, who is still recovering from a major, long-term hamstring injury. He played for about three quarters of this game, and throughout that time he was without a doubt Albion’s best threat.

Off balance and crazy, Cleary’s first attempt was not something he would want to see again, but later in the first half, he drove his way around the edge of the penalty area and thundered a low shot into the corner, which the Royals goalkeeper knocked away. This gave Reading keeper Collins something to do.

This season, Albion has had difficulty scoring goals at this level; Jovan Malcolm and Mo Faal are out on loan.

Currently one of this young team’s more experienced players, he posed a threat when cutting in from the left, but even without the game’s winning goal, this is a positive start.

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