- West Ham United PL2 take on Aston Villa away from home on Monday (7pm KO)
- The Hammers are currently third in Premier League 2 Division 2
- Winger Dan Kemp thinks they’ll use their previous Checkatrade Trophy experience to their advantage
Dan Kemp believes experiences like the Checkatrade Trophy will benefit West Ham United’s youngsters for the season ahead.
The Hammers PL2 side have been competing in the newly-formatted Trophy this season, although they’ve been beaten on both outings away at Coventry City and Wycombe Wanderers so far.
However, Kemp is an advocate for the competition and says it provides a real benefit to younger players.
“I was a great experience in the Checkatrade Trophy, playing against professional players and teams,” he said.
“We don’t get exposed to that in the U23 and U18 matches. It was a great learning curve and I hope we get more opportunities like that because it certainly benefits us.”
West Ham United face Aston Villa (7pm kick-off at the Bescot Stadium, Walsall) in Premier League 2 on Monday, having not played a league fixture since the 0-0 draw with Brighton and Hove Albion at the end of September.
Since then, cup competitions have been the primary focus for Terry Westley’s men as they began the defence of their Premier League Cup title with a 2-0 victory over Leicester City.
In the same period, they were beaten 3-0 by Wycombe in the Checkatrade Trophy but performed admirably against experienced opposition.
But attention now turns back to the league and the Hammers will hope to build on their promising start to the season, having only lost just once in six matches.
Kemp has been part of both youth sides this season, more recently appearing for the PL2 side against Coventry and Wycombe, and he hopes his hard work can maintain a place in Terry Westley’s squad.
“I’m very pleased with the start I’ve had. But it is only the start of the season so now I’m looking to continue that,” Kemp continued.
“Obviously I’ve had a couple of starts for the U23s and starting and scoring for the U18s so it’s been a good start to the campaign and now I’m looking to go even further and forward to the rest of the season.
“It’s a valuable experience [playing for the PL2 side], obviously it’s the next step up from my age group at the moment, so I’m working hard every day in training and hopefully I can get some more games for them.”