West Brom interim boss Richard Beale heaps praise on Taylor Gardner-Hickman
West Brom interim boss Richard Beale has heaped praise on youngster Taylor Gardner-Hickman after the midfielder starred in Saturday afternoon’s win over Reading.
The Albion academy product stole the show in the first game of the post-Steve Bruce era, amongst a showing of stellar performances from West Brom.
Beale confessed Gardner-Hickman has so many “attributes” and is a really good player after the youngster’s excellent outing against Reading.
“I think Taylor is a really, really good player, he’s got so many attributes,” said Beale as quoted by the Express and Star.
“His energy was excellent on top of his assist and his goal.
“As soon as I had to start thinking about the team, which I suppose is as soon as you get told you’re taking the team on Saturday, I wanted Taylor to play in there.
“He brings energy to the team. I know what he can do as a right-back, a right wing-back and centre midfield player and I thought he complimented Jake (Livermore) very well and they did that really well.”
Dazzling.
Three points was enough to lift the struggling Baggies out of the dreaded Championship drop zone and Gardner-Hickman played a huge role in this.
In a dazzling display, the youngster made two key contributions, an assist for Phillips’ goal and netting his first goal for the club.
It was a day to remember for Albion’s academy with goalkeeper Alex Palmer, Gardner-Hickman, Dara O’Shea and Reyes Cleary all shining for the Baggies.
With potential managerial candidate Sean Dyche in attendance, the youngsters staked their claim for regular starting spots under the “new” West Brom manager.
Fans have been screaming for the introduction of some youth into the Baggies first team squad and their arrival on Saturday afternoon was exciting, to say the least.
It was a drastically improved performance, maybe the fans were right after all that Bruce wasn’t up to the job at the Hawthorns?
Regardless, it’s nice to see the Baggies finally having something positive to talk about and hopefully, Gardner-Hickman and co can play more of a part in action moving forward.
In other West Brom news, Chris Lepkowski is reliably informed this manager wants the job at The Hawthorns.