JAMES Shan hopes that his under-23 side will take confidence from an encouraging midweek showing into Monday’s Premier League 2 game against Southampton.
His young Baggies side were eventually defeated at Walsall in Tuesday night’s Checkatrade Trophy fixture after leading 1-0 at half time, but Shan believes there were lots of good things that he and his team could take from the game.
“We were obviously very disappointed with the result in the Checkatrade Trophy against Walsall but there were lots of positives for us," he said.
“Looking back and reflecting on the game, for 65 minutes we were well in it. Unfortunately we just blew up a bit physically which is to be expected from such a young squad.
“I’m hoping that our experiences of going up against older opposition will put us in good stead and that we’ll be able to put in a performance."
Albion’s PL2 opponents have won two of their first five league matches this season, but Shan believes that The Saints’ results haven’t necessarily reflected their performances.
“They’ve been unfortunate in some of the matches where they’ve been defeated,” he said.
“I’m expecting a tough test from them, they’ve got some good players and they play a good brand and style of football.
“Looking at their away record they tend to travel with quite a young squad which will be good for us because we’ll be playing against a team of similar age and experience.
“We seem to have a relentless programme coming up - I think we’ve got nine games from Monday until the first week in November because we’re in lots of competitions.
“So there are quite a few games coming up but, if we want the players to go out on loan next year then they’ll have to get used to the highly demanding programme.
“What we’ll look to do over this busy period is try and mirror what the first team do when they’ve got a hectic schedule. There will be less developing type sessions out on the grass and more preparation and recovery sessions.”
The match against Southampton's PL2 side kicks off at 7pm and will be played at Kidderminster's Aggborough Stadium.