Hammers Lose At Leicester

HAMMERS Under-18s went down 6-1 to an excellent Leicester City side at the Foxes' Belvoir Drive training ground.

Tony Carr's side got off to the worst possible start, with defensive lapses allowing Chris O'Grady and James Graham to give the Foxes a two goal lead early on.

Leicester were relentless in the opening exchanges and after Danny Bunce had headed off the line, Graham plundered a third to leave West Ham United facing an uphill battle to take anything from this game.

Nevertheless, Hammers pushed forward and Kyel Reid forced a fine save out of the Leicester goalkeeper, before former Hammers Academy player Liam Norvel executed a brilliant lob to put Leicester 4-0 up.

Levai Porter made it five, before Hammers finally produced something to smile about when Kyel Reid struck to make it 5-1 at half-time.

Tony Carr reshuffled his side at half-time introducing James Tomkins and Tony Stokes for Lee Hales and Stephen McGuire. Indeed, the Hammers looked far more assured after the break and began to force the issue with a string of raids on the Leicester goal.

Corner after corner bombarded the Foxes box, but even the introduction of Moses Ashikodi could not breach the determined Leicester defence.

Kyel Reid missed a late penalty for Hammers, and to sum up their woes Billy McKinaly rounded off Leicester's victory with a sixth goal late on.

WHU: Matthew Reed; Ryan Andrews, Jemel Henry, Liam White, Stephen Maguire (James Tomkins 46 minutes), Lee Hales (Tony Stokes 46 minutes), Richard Georgiou (Moses Ashikodi 60 minutes), Danny Bunce (capt), Densal Davidson, Kyel Reid, Densal Davidson.  Subs not used: Darren Behcet (GK), David Cowley.

By Tony Fowles, Ironworks Gazette