U18s suffer Spurs setback

West Ham United's Barclays U18 Premier League Tier One hopes took another dent as Tottenham Hotspur stormed to a 3-0 victory at the Spurs Training Centre on Saturday.

Nathan Oduwa was Spurs' main threat in the first half and gave the home side the lead, before second half goals from Ruben Lameiras and Darren McQueen ended the contest.

The game started fairly evenly, with both teams spending long periods in possession on the ball, moving the ball around the pitch with some excellent pass and move football.

After 15 minutes, Spurs began to control of the game, using their wide players to put pressure on the Hammers' back four. The hosts took the lead after 23 minutes from a set piece routine. The home side used a short corner to work the ball to Roman Michael-Percil on the corner of the penalty area, who arrowed a cross towards the back post.

The cross got a deflection off the head of Hammers right-back Cheye Alexander, with the ball falling to an unmarked Oduwa in the box. He slid the ball past Sam Baxter to put the home side ahead.

Oduwa almost doubled Tottenham's lead just minutes later, as the ball found the tricky attacker on the left wing, from where he stepped inside Alexander and curled his shot onto the top of the crossbar, with Baxter beaten in the Hammers goal.

Spurs' dominance in the first half continued, with Oduwa at the heart of the majority of Tottenham's attacking moves. With 40 minutes on the clock, Oduwa set up his striking colleague Daniel Akindayini, but the latter couldn't find a way past West Ham's Baxter.

West Ham managed to put together a clear effort on goal in the run up to half time when a low cross from the left found Jerry Amoo in the box, who layed the ball into the path of Marcio Martins, but Spurs' keeper Luke McGee was even to the Hammers striker's effort.

Half time bought around a much-needed break for Potts' young Hammers, and his side started the second period well.

West Ham came out quick in the second half and pushed on looking for the goal they needed. Marcio Martins almost had an opportunity to break through the Spurs back line, but Moses Makasi just mistimed his attempted through ball and the home side cleared the danger.

Within ten minutes of the second half starting, Spurs dominance returned and lasted until the end of the game. Firstly, Michael-Percil broke through the Hammers defence and was bundled over by Emmanuel Onariase, but Spurs couldn't make anything of the resulting set piece.

Then, on 70 minutes, Oduwa cut inside from the left wing and beat Baxter with a shot, only to see his effort cleared off the line by Hammers substitute Moses Makasi.

Just a minute later, Tottenham did double their lead. After winning the ball back on the right wing, the ball found its way into the feet of Lameiras, who turned quickly to beat Taylor Miles and struck a low stinging shot past Baxter into the bottom left hand corner of the goal.

The pressure got worse for West Ham and Tottenham managed to raise their performance even higher once two in front, with both Nathan Oduwe and Harry Winks testing Baxter.

It was finally game over for West Ham on 85 minutes when Spurs substitute McQueen added a third goal, rounding Baxter to finish after left-back Connor Ogilivie reacted quickest to take a free kick on the break.

West Ham welcome Stoke City to Little Heath for their next Barclays U18 Premier League Tier One fixture on Saturday 9 March.

West Ham United U18s: Baxter, Alexander, Burke, Onariase, Page (Makasi), Marlow, Miles (Girdlestone), Amoo, Mavila, Sadlier, Martins (Boakye-Yiadom)?Subs not used: Howes, Homans.