U21s: West Brom 0-4 Aston Villa

Aston Villa ran riot at The Hawthorns on Friday night, thrashing West Bromwich Albion in Premier League 2.

Tommi O’Reilly got the scoring started in the third minute when his shot squirmed past Josh Griffiths.

The playmaker teed up Brad Young to make it 2-0 shortly after, and Villa proceeded to create a catalogue of chances.

A fast start to the second half saw Arjan Raikhy’s clinical finish extend their lead before Young slammed home his second of the night, with Declan Frith assisting both goals.

Victory made it four PL2 wins on the spin for the Young Lions, who climbed up to sixth in the table.

Tony Carss' side arrived at The Hawthorns having won their last three league matches, and they got off to the perfect start as they looked to extend that run.

With a little over two minutes on the clock, Griffiths failed to handle O’Reilly’s powerful shot from outside the box, watching on despairingly as the ball dribbled over the line.

Villa’s No7 turned provider to set up the visitors’ second six minutes later, bursting into the box and cutting the ball back for Young, who slammed it past the ‘keeper with an emphatic first-time finish.

Armed with a two-goal lead, the away side played with a swagger befitting of a team in total control of the game, and they continued to carve out chances.

Frith shot wide on two occasions, O’Reilly tested Griffiths once again and Raikhy spurned the best opening of them all, placing an effort wide of the far post with only the ‘keeper to beat.

Young then curled an effort inches wide in first-half stoppage time as Villa looked to ram home their domination.

The Baggies had managed only one shot on target in the first 45 minutes, and the waves of Villa pressure continued at the start of the second period, resulting in their third goal of the night.

O’Reilly was once again instrumental in breaking through West Brom’s midfield and attacking their backline; with the playmaker feeding Frith, who rolled the ball across to Raikhy.

The midfielder didn’t need to set himself and instead ran onto the ball and arrowed a shot across Griffiths and into the far corner.

A fourth goal was racked up shortly after when Frith picked out Young with a cross, paving the way for the forward to round off the counter-attack with a sharp finish.

Young was ready to wheel away and celebrate his hat-trick minutes later when he sent a volley goalwards, but a superb reflex save saw the ball tipped onto the post and away to safety.