PUBLISHED
18:32 24th September 2013
by James Hilsum
Albion’s Under-21s lost 1-0 in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Tottenham Hotspur today, but Simon Ireland heaped praise on some of his more experienced players.
Adam El-Abd, Lewis Dunk, George Barker and Adam Chicksen all started the match at Tottenham’s training ground.
He told seagulls.co.uk, “I think the attitude of those senior players in the game was first-class. They helped out the younger players, and it was a great experience for them to be playing alongside those types of players.”
The Seagulls fell behind early on thanks to Nabil Bentaleb’s eighth minute strike from inside the area, but Ireland did not focus too much on the result and believes it was a great opportunity for his players to come up against against top-flight opposition.
“What we like to do is test ourselves against Category One, Premier League opposition when we’ve got that opportunity. It brings a different challenge to what we usually face.
“We played well and the work rate was good. It was very pleasing in terms of what we created in the game.”
The Under-21s will return to league action when they face Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on 7th October, 7pm kick-off.
Albion: Walton (GK); Hunt (Rea 70), Dunk, El-Abd, Maksimenko; Richards (Asmundsson 60), Chicksen, March; Barker, Dickenson, Goodwin (Deen 70). Subs not used: Smith (GK), Harris. *
Original article