Tony Carr shuffled his pack for the trip to Ipswich, with one eye on the FA Youth Cup Third Round at Gillingham just three days later, and it was always going to be tough against a strong Ipswich side.
The hosts came at West Ham right from kick-off and it was no surprise when they took the lead after just eight minutes. A Hammers defender slipped in the penalty area, allowing Knights to smash the ball past Darren Behcet from 10 yards out.
Having gone behind, Tony Carr's side began to come back into the game. David Shaw tested the Ipswich 'keeper with a low drive that he did well to save and Hogan Ephraim glanced Ishmael Welsh's cross wide.
Welsh was again the provider when, moments later, he swung in a deep cross that fell invitingly to the unmarked Ollie Allen, but the Hammers striker lashed his shot over the bar. Allen was then involved in a short corner routine with Welsh that produced a cross to Liam White who failed to get his powerful header on target. At the half-time whistle Tony Carr's side were left to rue a host of missed chances as they went in 1-0 down.
The start of the second-half saw more pressure from the visitors. Sos Yao and Tommy Laws both put efforts wide of goal, before Ipswich punished West Ham for their laxity in front of goal by adding a second on 59 minutes. Behcet did well to parry a thunderous shot, but was helpless to stop Clarke following up to tap home the rebound.
The second goal seemed to drain West Ham's confidence, and Ipswich began to take control of the game. They added a third when Craig got beyond the Hammers defence and crossed for Blake, who stole in to thunder the ball into the roof of West Ham's net.
When young Charlie Sheringham was introduced with just minutes left, you felt that the Hammers misery might well be compounded by the son of West Ham United's veteran striker. Sure enough, as the seconds ticked away, Sheringham junior latched onto a cross field ball and rifled a shot past Behcet. Unfortunately, his dad couldn't be there to see it, as he was bagging his own last minute goal for Alan Pardew's senior side, who beat Sunderland 2-0 at the Stadium of Light on the same day.
Tony Carr said: "It was a disappointing result, but I don't think the scoreline accurately reflected our performance. There were long periods of the game when we really looked like getting something, but we had a lot of chances that we didn't take and once the second goal went in our heads really went down."
WHU: Behcet; Andrews, Bunce, White (Henry 85), Laws, Shaw, Allen, Cowley, Yao (Reid 81), Ephraim, Welsh. Subs unused: Reed (GK), Stokes, Ashikodi.
Courtesy Tony Fowles, Ironworks Gazette