West Ham United's under-18s carried on their impressive start to the new year with a 2-1 victory at Norwich City on Saturday morning.
Second-half goals from Lee Hales and Hogan Ephraim secured three points for Tony Carr's team, who returned from their Christmas break with an emphatic 6-1 win over Ipswich Town last week.
After a fairly quiet first half, Hammers took the lead 10 minutes after the restart when substitute Hales latched on to a low cross from the left that had been touched on by Ephraim, and kept his cool to bury the ball past the Canaries keeper.
Hales was on in place of midfielder Jack Collison, who was stretchered off after just 20 minutes with a twisted knee. Sadly for Jack, it was his first start back in the team after recovering from an injury to the same knee.
Having broken the deadlock, Hammers began to take full control of proceedings and it was no surprise when they doubled their tally on 70 minutes. Ephraim gained possession on the edge of the penalty area, turned one defender and fired in a low shot that the goalkeeper could only help into the net.
Jack Jeffrey came close to making it 3-0 with a shot that hit the post and, as with the first team's trip to Norwich last week, it really should have been all over by the time the hosts grabbed a consolation.
Thankfully for the youngsters today, it almost was, as Norwich pulled one back with the last kick of the game, albeit in controversial style. After a long-range effort had hit the underside of the bar and bounced back out, a follow-up shot was cleared off the line, but the referee's assistant ruled that the original strike had crossed the line.
However, the final whistle blew as soon as the game restarted, and Tony Carr was left satisfied with another solid performance from his team.
"It was a game that we dominated and fully deserved to win," he said afterwards. "The two goals were well taken and we really should have added a couple more in the second half.
"The game was over by the time Norwich pulled one back, but it was a very strange decision from the linesman. Thankfully, it hasn't cost us dearly.
"The only downside today was the loss of Jack Collison, who has only just returned from a knee injury. We don't know yet how serious it is, and Jack will have a scan in the next couple of days."
Team: Blackmore; Andrews, White, Tomkins, Widdowson (Fitzgerald 65); Collison (Hales 20), Jeffrey, Cowley, Hines (Harvey 70); Ephraim, Reid. Unused subs: Davidson, Kemal.