U18s: Bolton 2-3 West Brom

Following a bright start to proceedings, the Whites opened the scoring from the penalty spot through Jamie Thomas with 25 minutes on the clock but the Baggies were back on level terms shortly after with a Jonathan Leko thunderbolt from 20 yards.

Not to be deterred, Bolton were soon back in front with Thomas again the scorer after good work from Sam Bailey, with the in-form frontman smashing home from 10 yards to send Wanderers into the break with a 2-1 lead.

Having ruled proceedings during the first period, David Lee and Tony Kelly's youngsters were undone by two quickfire goals shortly after the restart from Leko and Andre Wright to leave them chasing the game during the remainder of the clash.

They were handed the opportunity to snatch an equalising goal as the clock ran down, but Thomas spurned the opportunity to complete his hat trick as the goalkeeper denied him from the penalty spot with West Brom holding out for the victory.

A testing afternoon for the youngsters, coach Lee admitted his disappointment at the final result but reiterated the need for his players to not dwell on the game and to bounce back as quickly as possible.

"We were unfortunate not to win the game, in all honesty," he said. "We dominated both in and out of possession.

"We've had an excellent run of wins recently, but we now need to focus on rebuilding that good run and more importantly, replicating the performances of late."

The under-18s are next in action away at Chelsea next Saturday, kick off 11am.