West Ham United's Under-18's had to settle for a
share of the points as they drew 2-2 away at Crystal Palace
today.
A blistering first half display saw the Hammers go into a
commanding 2-0 lead, Freddie Sears and Lorcan Fitzgerald getting
the two goals in the space of 15 minutes.
The first strike saw good work from Jack Collison, he fed the ball
to Sears, who made no mistake by shooting into the back of the net
And soon after Fitzgerald made it two, as he followed up more good
play, this time from Junior Stanislas, to strike home from the far
post.
Hammers were equally solid at the back and in midfield, as they
restricted the home side to a few chances and went into the break
with the strong lead intact.
In the second half, Palace started to grow in confidence and
started to take the game to their visitors. They pulled it back to
2-1 with 20 minutes to go and then grabbed an equaliser, striking
home from the edge of the box.
Bondz N'Gala had a good chance just before the end of the game,
but agonisingly hit the post.
Speaking after the game, Tony Carr said: "We're
disappointed because it feels like a bit of a defeat. You often
hear the saying 'it was a game of two halves' and this was
a match where it certainly was.
"We won the first half and they won the second. We were on
fire in that first half, but to be fair to Palace, they're no
mugs and are a decent side that have already held Arsenal here this
season.
"We knew that the second half would be harder. We still played
well as we looked to keep the tempo as much as we could, but Palace
hit back and any neutral would say they deserved something from the
game."
He added: "We're disappointed we didn't win but it was
a point and we are still unbeaten. In fact, we haven't conceded
two goals for quite a few games and that shows you the sort of
consistent high level the boys have been playing to.
"You get games like this, where you feel you should have won,
but don't. It happens throughout the season. These are the sort
of nitty-gritty games that you just have to get something from and
we still did at the end of the day. It's not all silky football
and you have to grind out results where you can.
"We're currently top with Arsenal, so it's a case of
seeing what they do next, but more importantly, we just need to
concentrate on getting the results we need. There is all to play
for in the matches we have left."
Hammers: Blackmore, O'Neill(Spence 75), Widdowson, Miller,
N'Gala , Hales, Stanislas (Hines 70), Collison, Jeffery (Hunt,
75), Sears, Fitzgerald
Subs Unused: Blackwell
By Laura Burkin