Dev Squad forward Djair Parfitt-Williams was delighted to score the Hammers' winner in the U21 Premier League Cup final
Development Squad striker Djair Parfitt-Williams admitted it felt amazing to score the winner in West Ham’s 1-0 Barclays U21 Premier League Cup final first leg victory.
The 19-year-old tapped home the game’s only goal in the last minute of regular time to send the 10,000 inside the Boleyn Ground, for its final final, into raptures.
Parfitt-Williams, returning from injury, is the Hammers’ top goalscorer in the competition and was delighted to add to his tally with such an important strike.
He said: “It felt amazing. It was the 90th minute and it was 0-0 for the whole game before that so to score in the last minute, especially at Upton Park with a lot of fans here, felt amazing.
“We created some good chances. I think we could have played a little bit quicker at times in the first half but in the second half we started to break them down a little bit more and looked quite dangerous.
“It’s a good achievement [to score] but to get this far is about my teammates and my coaches and everything.”
Parfitt-Williams bagged in the previous Cup wins against Exeter, Fulham and Blackburn and added his fourth with a real poachers’ effort in the final first leg.
“I guess I’m in the right place at the right time!” he continued. “That’s what the one was tonight. I was in a good position.
“I knew if I stayed in the middle of the box, Josh [Cullen] would clip it in far post and I knew Reece [Oxford] or Doneil [Henry] would get it back across. I stayed in a good position.
“We’re confident to go anywhere and beat anybody, as we have such a good team. 1-0 definitely gives us a good mood in training and we should be confident going into the second leg.”
The 19-year-old tapped home the game’s only goal in the last minute of regular time to send the 10,000 inside the Boleyn Ground, for its final final, into raptures.
Parfitt-Williams, returning from injury, is the Hammers’ top goalscorer in the competition and was delighted to add to his tally with such an important strike.
He said: “It felt amazing. It was the 90th minute and it was 0-0 for the whole game before that so to score in the last minute, especially at Upton Park with a lot of fans here, felt amazing.
“We created some good chances. I think we could have played a little bit quicker at times in the first half but in the second half we started to break them down a little bit more and looked quite dangerous.
“It’s a good achievement [to score] but to get this far is about my teammates and my coaches and everything.”
Parfitt-Williams bagged in the previous Cup wins against Exeter, Fulham and Blackburn and added his fourth with a real poachers’ effort in the final first leg.
“I guess I’m in the right place at the right time!” he continued. “That’s what the one was tonight. I was in a good position.
“I knew if I stayed in the middle of the box, Josh [Cullen] would clip it in far post and I knew Reece [Oxford] or Doneil [Henry] would get it back across. I stayed in a good position.
“We’re confident to go anywhere and beat anybody, as we have such a good team. 1-0 definitely gives us a good mood in training and we should be confident going into the second leg.”