West Ham United's Development Squad were edged out at Dagenham and Redbridge on Tuesday afternoon, going down to a narrow 4-3 defeat.
In a game littered with chances, West Ham were boosted by two spectacular goals from Blair Turgott (pictured), but coach Ian Hendon was left disappointed as defensive errors saw his team beaten by the odd goal in seven at Victoria Road.
Hendon told whufc.com he was disappointed with the avoidable nature of the Daggers' goals, two of which came from direct free-kicks from Dominic Green.
"Defensively we were poor today. We consistently gave away free-kicks in dangerous areas. Their player has bent a great free-kick in and two minutes later we've given away another one in the same area and he's scored again," said the coach.
"They are young kids looking to learn but they were schoolboy mistakes. The lads should've learnt from the first free-kick not to give away silly fouls but they didn't. We scored two great goals through Blair but let ourselves down by giving away free-kicks in silly areas"
A goalless first half gave way to an action-packed second period during which the visitors were the first to strike. In the 64th minute, winger Turgott picked up the ball on the right-hand side and slammed a fantastic 20-yard effort past goalkeeper Dave Hogan and into the top corner.
It was a fantastic strike by the youngster and it saw the game open up with six more goals coming in the remaining 25 minutes. Dagenham replied within minutes of West Ham taking the lead. Pelly Ruddock gave away a free-kick on the right side of the box and Daggers striker Dominic Green struck the ball expertly over the wall and into the bottom right-hand corner.
Dagenham then took the lead with what was almost a carbon copy of their equaliser. The Hammers gave away a free-kick on the edge of their own penalty area and again Green stepped up to place the ball in the same corner of the goal. However the Hammers didn't give up and continued to push forward with Elliot Lee making good runs up top supported by Ravel Morrison and Turgott.
They got their reward when, in the 81st minute, a Dagenham player handled in the area and Lee stepped up to level score from the spot. The Daggers were not to be denied however, and went back in front moments later through Josh Scott.
The hosts then made it 4-2 when some nice inter-play between Brian Woodhall and Scott ended with the latter slamming the ball home from 20 yards for his second of the game. There was still time for West Ham to hit the net again, with Turgott firing in another long-range special.
The England Under-18 international picked the ball up 30 yards out, expertly flicked it past his marker and hit a powerful drive into the top corner. However, it was too little, too late to prevent the Daggers from registering a victory.
West Ham United: Baxter, Driver (Young 86), Fanimo, Ruddock (Powell 76), Wearen, K.Lee, Turgott, Lletget (Sadlier 76), E.Lee, Morrison, Vose (Miles 76)
Goals: Turgott (2), E.Lee (1)
Subs not used: Guzman, Shaw