West Brom u21s 3 Newcastle United u21s 1: Baggies win well as Dike and Ajayi return

Attacker Higgins crashed in a 25-yard wonderstrike in the first period before Sule converted two smart finishes after the break to seal a 3-1 win over Newcastle in Premier League 2 as Albion climbed to 16th in the division.

First-team boss Tony Mowbray watched on at Solihull Moors’ Damson Park as striker Dike played his first football exactly 365 days on from a ruptured Achilles at Ipswich. Dike played a pre-agreed half hour as he steps up his comeback from a nightmare year.

Centre-back Ajayi completed the first half unscathed on his return from a hamstring injury picked up in October. 

Dike was busy in the opening exchanges and quickly set about running the channels and causing the Newcastle defence problems.

The hosts lost midfielder Kevin Mfuamba to injury early on as the 18-year-old's fitness concerns continued.

The striker opted to look for colleague Sule rather than shoot when a presentable opening came his way inside 10 minutes.

Albion midfielder Harry Whitwell had a striker comfortable fielded by goalkeeper James Taylor before Newcastle's Garang Kuol went within a lick of paint of rifling in a screamer from distance.

Sule dragged wide across goal following a purposeful run on 20 minutes. It was Dike's forward colleague Sule, the former Celtic youngster, who saw several opportunities early on as Taylor made another save.

Dike's pre-agreed 30-minute run-out came to an end with a warm applause from the Baggies fans in attendance. Dike seemed fine physically, with director of medical Tony Strudwick in attendance casting an eye.

Left winger Higgins lit up the contest 10 minutes before the interval. He took a pass from cool defender Jamal Mohammed - himself making a starting return after 16 months out injured - before doing the rest in some style.

Higgins darted away down the flank. He was too quick for his defender, cut inside and unleashed a rocket into the top right corner from the best part of 25 yards.

Whitwell was close to a second moments later as his free-kick from the left side was tipped on to the woodwork by Taylor.

Right-back Deago Nelson was denied at close quarters by Taylor on the stroke of half-time after a jinking run. Ajayi completed his 45 minutes unscathed after looked confident throughout. He was replaced by under-21 new recruit winger Miller McDonald.

Albion bagged a deserved second just a couple of minutes after the restart. Higgins fed left-back Michael Parker down the left and the low delivery was pinpoint for Sule to slide in a finish.

Skipper Reece Hall steered just wide of the far post after being fed by midfield colleague Whitwell. Sule then shot over after a clever Whitwell header.

Some unconvincing Newcastle defending allowed Sule to finish smartly with his left foot after Higgins wriggled through too easily.

Albion’s New Zealand goalkeeper Joe Wallis made a fine late save to protect the clean sheet and deny Newcastle’s brightest outlet Kuol.

Wallis was beaten by Jay Turner-Cooke’s curled strike into the top corner in the closing stages. Albion made a hash of the finale as Mo Diomande cleared a header off the line and Kuol saw an effort ruled out for a narrow offside.

Albion under-21s (4-3-3): Wallis; Nelson, Mohammed (Mandey, 73), Ajayi (McDonald, 45), Parker; Hall (c), Mfuamba (Iddrisa, 8), Whitwell; Higgins, Sule, Dike (Diomande, 31).

Subs not used: Cisse.

Newcastle: Taylor, Powell (Watts, 76), Heffernan (c), Thompson, Charlton, Kuol, Stanton, Bailey (Harper, 76), Emerson (Ferreira, 67), Harrison, Brayson (Turner-Cooke, 55).

Subs not used: Anderson.

Referee: Declan Brown