Phillips proud of U18s run

West Ham United U18s assistant manager Mark Phillips hailed the Hammers following Saturday's 3-1 win over Barclays U18 Premier League leaders Fulham.

After playing out a goalless first half at Little Heath on Saturday, striker Jordan Brown and captain Kieran Bywater put the Hammers on track to victory. George Williams halved the deficit from the penalty spot after a foul by Hammers defender Jamie Harney.

It was to be West Ham's day though when the Hammers won a penalty of their own, which was coolly dispatched by Bywater for his second of the game and his 13th goal in 15 games.

Phillips was naturally delighted as West Ham extended their unbeaten run to nine league matches.

Read the Match Report from Saturday's 3-1 victory over Fulham

"I don't want to be quoting clichés but I thought it was a game of two halves," said Phillips. "In the first half, Fulham were on top but we were definitely the better team in the second half.

"We prepared for Fulham the same way that we prepared for the Tottenham and Aston Villa games because they are both up there in the top three with Fulham and we have beaten both of them.

"We obviously gave them respect for where they are in the league, but made sure that we didn't over-respect them because we are confident in what our team can do. I got a good feeling from training all week and we went out and showed just how good we are."

Despite the result, Phillips believes that it was nowhere near a perfect performance from the Hammers, but that the game came down to which team look their chances in front of goal.

"I wouldn't say it was a perfect game because in the first half, Fulham were the better team. Steve Potts and I identified a few things at half-time where we could negate their attack and then it was about us taking our chances, which we did."

The game saw both sides being awarded controversial penalties, with Phillips claiming Harney had been wrongly penalised for Fulham's spot-kick.

"I didn't think either was a penalty to be perfectly honest. For their penalty, I just thought Jamie won the header, slightly aggressively, but he had to be to win the header."

The win stretches the Hammers' unbeaten run to nine games ahead of home games with Arsenal and Leicester City to round out the pre-Christmas league fixture list. West Ham will also travel to Accrington Stanley in the FA Youth Cup third round before the festive season.

"Hopefully the run can continue till sometime in May!" Phillips continued. "The more we play and pick up results, winning becomes a habit and we start expecting to beat teams, no matter who we are playing against.

"I thought that when we beat Tottenham and Aston Villa. There is a good vibe around the Academy at the moment. Togetherness is one of the main attributes that this team has got. They are very close both on and off the pitch. Steve has got the team in a very good place at the moment.

"The results haven't always shown what the performances have deserved. For example, we drew 1-1 with Southampton here at Little Heath earlier in the season and we should have won that and drew with Newcastle when they had ten men so we should have won that too. Overall, we have played quite well this season."

This season is the first that Potts, Phillips and Academy director Tony Carr MBE have worked together with the U18s. The trio have proved to be a successful combination so far.

"It's been very good working with both Steve and Tony this season. Tony's experience is unquestionable and second to none. He has been doing youth football for years and knows everything about it.

"I've recently come up from the U16s to be Steve's assistant so you then have my enthusiasm. Steve is the cool head that tops it off and makes sure we work well together."