Raphael Spiegel's penalty shootout save saw West Ham U21s crowned as Premier League Cup Champions
Raphael Spiegel said he was always confident of performing penalty shootout heroics in the U21s’ Premier League Cup victory against Hull City on Wednesday night.
Terry Westley’s men were 1-0 up going into the second leg final at Hull City’s KC Stadium and after the Tigers levelled in the last minute of stoppage time, the match headed for spot-kicks after further stalemate in extra time.
But the Hammers smashed home all five of their strikes from 18 yards, while Hull’s Daniel Batty was denied superbly by the Swiss stopper.
Thrilled to play his part in the victory, Spiegel said: “It feels amazing. It was a hard game and we conceded just before the final whistle and then we had to dig deep in extra time.
“We got to penalties and thank god we won it in the end. It’s a great feeling. I was confident for the penalties, because I was prepared.
“I watched their penalties [before the match] and I was confident I was going to save one or two. I was close to the first one and the second one I saved. Our players did the job, and it’s not easy to score a pen, especially in a final. They did brilliantly.”
The keeper was impressive all evening for the Hammers, denying Hull once by tipping an effort onto the crossbar and collecting countless long balls into the box.
Quizzed more about the incredible shootout stop down low to his left, Spiegel continued: “It was a hard one to save, but I had a feeling he was going there and I put all my energy into that save.
“I was pretty confident during the game, and I had a solid match and did my job. In a penalty shootout, as a keeper you can only win, and it was brilliant with the fans who travelled. There was a great atmosphere. We are all happy and we’re going to celebrate.
“It’s brilliant. It’s always nice to win a trophy. It’s the best feeling and it’s why you train hard every day. It will be an important experience for our young players to win a trophy and we learned a lot today.”
Terry Westley’s men were 1-0 up going into the second leg final at Hull City’s KC Stadium and after the Tigers levelled in the last minute of stoppage time, the match headed for spot-kicks after further stalemate in extra time.
But the Hammers smashed home all five of their strikes from 18 yards, while Hull’s Daniel Batty was denied superbly by the Swiss stopper.
Thrilled to play his part in the victory, Spiegel said: “It feels amazing. It was a hard game and we conceded just before the final whistle and then we had to dig deep in extra time.
“We got to penalties and thank god we won it in the end. It’s a great feeling. I was confident for the penalties, because I was prepared.
“I watched their penalties [before the match] and I was confident I was going to save one or two. I was close to the first one and the second one I saved. Our players did the job, and it’s not easy to score a pen, especially in a final. They did brilliantly.”
The keeper was impressive all evening for the Hammers, denying Hull once by tipping an effort onto the crossbar and collecting countless long balls into the box.
Quizzed more about the incredible shootout stop down low to his left, Spiegel continued: “It was a hard one to save, but I had a feeling he was going there and I put all my energy into that save.
“I was pretty confident during the game, and I had a solid match and did my job. In a penalty shootout, as a keeper you can only win, and it was brilliant with the fans who travelled. There was a great atmosphere. We are all happy and we’re going to celebrate.
“It’s brilliant. It’s always nice to win a trophy. It’s the best feeling and it’s why you train hard every day. It will be an important experience for our young players to win a trophy and we learned a lot today.”