A good understanding of one another’s games has played a large part in West Ham United U23s’ recent form, according to midfielder Alfie Lewis.
Speaking after the U23s overcame Sunderland 4-2 at the Chigwell Construction Stadium on Sunday, Lewis admitted he was enjoying being part of a squad whose attacking outfit has plundered 26 goals in just ten competitive games so far this season.
The Hammers midfield trio of Lewis, Conor Coventry and Joe Powell have started six of those matches together, and exerted impressive control once more as West Ham raced into a 3-0 lead inside the first 23 minutes on Sunday.
Highlights: West Ham United U23s 4-2 Sunderland U23s
With plenty of match experience behind them, Lewis attributes the U23s' recent attacking prowess to the unity they have developed on and off the pitch.
He said: “It was good to get back out there and get another win. The boys are obviously on a great run, so it’s good to keep it going.
“We started the game very well, got the three goals early and we were playing some incisive football, linking up nicely.
“We’ve all played together regularly so far this season, so we know what each other’s games are like. We work on that link-up in training and in games and it makes it easier to play some good stuff.”
Anthony Scully had opened the scoring for West Ham in the third minute, converting Joe Powell’s low ball from close range, before Nathan Holland struck a clinical brace.
Sunderland hit back, however, with Jack Connelly pouncing on two defensive errors either side of half-time to bring the Black Cats right back into contention.
Although the visitors had their chances at 3-2, Lewis reaffirmed after the match that he and his teammates felt confident they would get the next goal to finish the game .
“They got back into it,” Lewis admitted afterwards. “We had to be careful to make sure we got the next goal, and once we did we were over the line.
“We were always confident that we could get another goal. I thought the way we were playing, some of the chances we were creating, it was only a matter of time.”
So the case proved, as Scully struck again in the dying minutes to hand West Ham their sixth league win of the Premier League 2 Division 2 campaign. Now, having gone unbeaten for 16 games under their new Lead Coach so far this season, Dmitri Halajko’s men face another challenging chapter in their campaign.
Next month’s fixtures alone features trips to Stoke and Norwich in Premier League 2 Division 2 in October, plus matches at Cheltenham Town and at home to VFL Wolfsburg in the Leasing.com Trophy and Premier League International Cup respectively.
Lewis, however, is happy for the games to continue to come thick and fast.
“We’ll get back out there. Confidence is really high at the moment,” the 20-year-old smiled.
“We’ll keep going. We’re going into another set of difficult fixtures, so we’ll try to keep up that unbeaten run going as long as we can.”
