KEVIN Keen fielded nine players with first-team experience in the
Reserve side that won 1-0 over Norwich City at Upton Park, and the
West Ham United Reserve team boss admitted that he was impressed
with the application of his players in tough conditions at the
Boleyn Ground.
Petr Mikolanda scored the game's only goal on 21 minutes, a
spectacular diving header from Jemel Henry's cross. It was a
slightly unusual system for the Reserves, playing with a back three
of James Collins, Carl Fletcher and Elliott Ward, with Henry and
Clive Clarke operating as wing-backs.
But Kevin was pleased to see his side get back to winning ways
against the Canaries.
"Obviously I was glad to get the three points and I was very
pleased with our attitude towards the game," he said. "It
was a young Norwich side, but they came here, worked hard and
really gave it a go.
"They made if difficult for us at times and we really had to
compete with them. It was a great goal that secured us the win, one
that was good enough to grace any game.
"Jemel Henry put over a really good cross from the right and
Petr did very well to get on the end of it. It was a really
instinctive finish."
Since signing for the Hammers during the summer, after impressing
during a two-week trial, Petr has struggled with injuries. The
Czech Republic Under-21 international was injured at the start of
the season, and after recovering to join Northampton Town on loan
was then injured again during his spell at Sixfields, restricting
him to just three appearances.
"It's been a difficult time for Petr," admitted
Kevin. "He impressed during pre-season, but since signing for
the Club he's been very unlucky with injuries.
"It was unfortunate that he picked up an injury at Northampton
and couldn't play as much football as he would have liked.
"But he's come back here and played well against Norwich.
He's still got a lot to learn, but Petr has got that knack of
scoring goals in the box, be it with his head or feet, and that is
a great attribute for any player.
"The Czech Republic Under-21s have got a big game against
Germany next week, I'm sure he'll be involved in that and
it's something he'll really want to do well in."
In switching from the trusted 4-4-2 to a back-three system, Kevin
explained: "The manager wanted to try a few new things,
especially with quite a few of the senior squad playing.
"I think it's fair to say some worked well and some not
quite so well, but it was a good opportunity to try out a few new
things.
"I thought Carl Fletcher had a superb game, and there were one
or two other very good performances.
"It was a solid defensive display and Stephen Bywater rarely
had to make a save. They had one or two good opportunities that
slid just past the post, and they did hit the bar right at the end,
but that aside Stephen wasn't really tested.
"We defended well, but we had three players out there who
really know how to defend and it gave the team a solid
look."
Keen's First-team Attitude
3rd November 2005