- West Ham United were beaten in their first Checkatrade Trophy tie at Coventry City
- The hosts triumphed 4-2 at the Ricoh Arena against Terry Westley’s young side
- The boss said there were certainly positives to take from the match
Terry Westley admitted his side did not quite pass the test in their first Checkatrade Trophy tie against Coventry City on Tuesday night.
The Hammers were beaten 4-2 by the west Midlands side at the Ricoh Arena in the newly-formatted competition, but there was another double for Spanish striker Toni Martinez.
And Westley explained there were other positives to take from the clash, though many things can also be learned from the experience.
“The players are disappointed and rightly so, because at this level it’s about winning as much as anything else. Tonight we didn’t quite pass the test. There were some good bits, but certainly not enough.
“Overall though, we’re pleased. To think that was a nearly full-strength Coventry team and for us to go in level at half time, there are a lot of positives to take out of it. If you defend naively though, as we did in the end, you can’t win a match.
“We need to grow up properly as a team, and you do that over time. We stretched them though, and it was certainly a game.”
It was many of the players’ first experience against a senior first team and Coventry’s side was packed full of experienced Football League talent.
Marvin Sordell, formerly of Watford and Bolton Wanderers, led the line, and there were also places for Chris McCann and Gael Bigirimana.
“They had an experienced side and we lost the game through small margins,” Westley continued. “It’s not big things. They scored three goals from set-pieces. There’s a danger they can score from those and the higher you go, the more quality deliveries have.
“You’ll get punished. We have eight out on loan and then this group is the level underneath and we have some real fine players.
“Declan Rice is ready for this level anytime he wants. Alex Pike did well moving late on to centre-back and there were another two goals for Toni Martinez, which is what he is.
“We want our players to be playing even higher so these small details matter even more.”