Derrick Williams

The luck of the Irish rubbed off for Villa's title-winning Academy side in 2010-11 - particularly in the centre of defence where Derrick Williams continued to make massive strides.

We'd already seen evidence of Williams' class and composure the previous season as he and compatriot Daniel Devine formed a solid backbone to the Villa side during an epic run to the FA Youth Cup final.

This time around the duo took their partnership to another level as Tony McAndrew's team surged to the top of the Academy league table with the best defensive record over the 28-game season.

As well as featuring in every round of the Youth Cup yet again, as Villa exited at the semi-final stage to Sheffield United, 2010-11 was a season where Williams made a significant step into the reserve team ranks.

The teenager from County Waterford, Ireland, appeared as a substitute in the first two games of the second string season - a 2-0 defeat at Manchester City and a 4-0 win over Blackpool.

But his finest moment came when the claret and blues crushed Manchester United 4-1 at Altrincham.

Williams moved across to left-back and succeeded in marking United's Portuguese summer signing Bebe out of the contest.

He also helped shut out Arsenal in a superb 2-0 away win in November.

A busy season overall for Williams featured 10 appearances for the reserves, regular league and cup action for the youth team and international honours with Republic of Ireland U19s.