Harrison Wood rescued a late point for Rovers Under-21s, who got off the mark in 2023-24 following a 3-3 draw against West Bromwich Albion Under-21s in Premier League 2.

In the six-goal thriller, it was the hosts who fired first at The Hawthorns, with Kevin Mfuamba unleashing a spectacular volley that flew past Joe Hilton and into the bottom corner after only 13 minutes.

However, Rovers hit back against a Baggies side who came into the clash in confident mood following their emphatic 3-0 win against Aston Villa last time out, and it came from Harley O'Grady-Macken.

The midfielder, formerly on the books of West Brom's arch-rivals Wolves before linking up with our Academy, got on the end of Jay Haddow's pass, showed good pace and drive to burst away from the home defence, skip past home goalkeeper Ted Cann and then roll into an empty net to level things up just two minutes later.

That gave Rovers the boost they needed and the scoreline could and should have gone in favour of the visitors after the hour mark when Kristi Montgomery hit the post before Ethan Walker saw his tame penalty saved by Cann after he was taken down in the box.

Rovers did find the goal their play deserved just before half time, though. It was Tom Bloxham who got his first competitive goal for the club when he crashed an indirect free kick into the roof of the net after being set up by an O'Grady-Macken roll.

But, as it did for the Baggies earlier, that advantage lasted just a couple of minutes, with a trialist finishing from inside the box after Hilton could only parry Harry Whitwell's drive, as the two teams went into the interval all square.

The opportunities continued to arrive for both teams after the restart, with the home team seeing a couple of free kicks fly past Hilton's goal before Charlie Weston kept Cann honest with a strike that was goalbound.

With less than 20 minutes remaining, Richard Beale's men took the lead again when Layton Love latched onto Akeel Higgins' cross from the left to poke home from six yards out.

The heads could have dropped in the Rovers fans, but Sheron's side kept persevering and earned their reward through Wood, who'd earlier emerged off the bench to net an equaliser with five minutes left to end an enthralling contest in the West Midlands.

Next up for the youngsters is a home game against Leicester City's Under-21s at the County Ground in Leyland on Sunday 27th August, kick-off 1pm.

Report: West Bromwich Albion Under-21s 3-3 Rovers Under-21s