- Academy Director Terry Westley thinks his players must treat their play-off final with Newcastle as "just another game"
- The Hammers take on the Toon Army on Tuesday evening for a place in Premier League 2 Division 1
- Westley also believes the match will be a closely-fought one
Terry Westley believes his players must treat the Premier League 2 Division 2 play-off final as “just another game”.
The Hammers take on Newcastle United at St. James’ Park on Tuesday for a place in Division 1 and Westley believes it’s important that his team do the basics properly.
The sides have already met three times this season and the match will be the U23’s third trip to the North East in the space of two months.
“Playing as well as we can, playing to our philosophy and playing to how we’ve played all season will be the key factors,” Westley observed.
“It’s just another game. I think that’s the most important thing. You can’t start doing anything different and you can’t put more emphasis on it.
“We wouldn’t have been in this position if it wasn’t for beating West Brom and if we hadn’t won the semi-final. But those games at the start of the season against Stoke when we collected three points, they’re very similar. This is just another game for us and we must play properly."
Westley believes victory in the final will cap off another good season for the Academy of Football as a whole.
The Hammers have achieved lots of success in the U23 and U18 leagues this season and a number of their young players have picked up valuable experience out on loan, most notably Josh Cullen, who will appear for Bradford City in the Sky Bet League One play-off final this weekend.
“It would end a very good season for us when you consider we’ve made over 165 appearances in the Football League with boys who have been out on loan," he continued.
“This group of players, collectively, have got themselves in a position to get promotion and they’re confident they can put on a good display.
All the matches between the two sides this season have been close affairs. Their first meeting was way back in August where Toni Martinez, who will make his comeback from injury in the final, was among the scorers in a 3-1 victory at Dagenham and Redbridge's Chigwell Construction Stadium.
The sides played out a goalless draw in the return league fixture in March before Sammy Ameobi scored an extra-time winner as the Hammers were knocked out of the Premier League Cup a week later.
Westley believes Tuesday’s match will follow suit and be another hugely competitive game between the two.
“In fighting terms, you would class this as a 50/50 fight. The pundits wouldn’t know who is going to win.
“It’s close and I think the game will pan out like that. The really important thing for us, the staff and the players, is to play with our style and play the way we’ve been playing all season. If we do that, I think the right result will come out for us.”
“We must play to the non-negotiables, as we like to call them, like outworking the opposition, playing together as a team. If we can do that collectively, I think we can have a positive night.”
Tickets will be available at the North East Corner for West Ham fans, priced at £3 for Adults and £1 for Concessions. Season Ticket Holders who produce their cards will be admitted free of charge.
If you are unable to make the game at St. James’ Park, whufc.com will have live text updates from 6pm on Tuesday evening. You can also keep up to date with the action on our Twitter feed.