Tony's Disappointment At Youth Cup Exit

WEST Ham United Academy Director Tony Carr admitted his Under-18 team were below their usual standard in the FA Youth Cup Fourth Round clash against Manchester City, despite fighting back in the second-half.

Tony said: "We didn't do ourselves justice and we know that we are better than how we performed on the night.

"For the first 15 minutes of the game we were second best in every department. Manchester City had strong, powerful forwards. They were a big team all over the pitch and we were just out-powered and out-fought.

"That is the disappointing factor of the night, although it wasn't anything knew to us because we knew that City would play that way.

"In the first-half it was men against boys. But in the second-half I thought you had to give us credit for coming out and showing the character that we did.

"We took the game to them in the second-half and really worked hard to try and drag something out of it.

"The brief at half-time was simply to get some respectability back by winning the second-half. We did win the second-half, 2-0, and that is a moral victory that we can take from the game.

"The lessons from it are that you have to earn the right to play football. We didn't do that in the first-half and got punished for it."

Tony's Under-18 team will now switch their attentions to the League as they look to close the gap on leaders Southampton.

He said: "It doesn't need a miracle, because if we can beat Southampton at home they still have some tough games to play.

"We can catch them, so who knows. There is still a lot to play for in the second-half of the season and the boys are fighting for contracts so every game is massive from now until the end of the season for them."