After seeing his side mount an impressive second-half fightback at Southampton on Saturday afternoon, West Ham United Under-23s lead coach Dmitri Halajko has praised their reaction to adversity.
The Hammers went into their third Premier League 2 game of the season determined to build on some strong displays and make their chances count, a factor which Halajko had identified as critical in their two losses thus far.
They made a slow start, however, at Staplewood Training Ground, and fell behind when Dan N’Lundulu evaded several challenges to fire Southampton in front after just ten minutes played.
The home team continued to fashion openings as West Ham toiled, and doubled their advantage just after the interval when N’Lundulu slotted home from the penalty spot after Josh Sims was felled close to goal.
Yet Halajko’s development squad rallied and hit back almost immediately through Oladapo Afolayan, who took his chance clinically from a long ball, before pulling back onto level terms with just three minutes remaining when the ball struck a Southampton hand inside the area – skipper Conor Coventry converting the penalty.
The result ensured the Hammers recorded their first Premier League 2 Division 1 point of the season, with three tough away fixtures played to open the campaign.
“To coin an old football cliché, ‘a game of two halves’ really,” Halajko summarised.
“The first half, they were far better than us. We weren’t at our best and we were nowhere near the levels we should be, and they were 1-0 up at half-time and rightly so.
“In the second half, I thought we were the better team. We showed great character after going 2-0 down early on, because after that it was all us really. In the last 40 minutes, it was all us. We got it back to 2-2 and in the end we were the ones pushing for the winner.
“At half-time we had a look at ourselves and had a discussion about how we wanted to get better. We changed our shape, and we knew that the first-half performance wasn’t us.
“We wanted to put that right and see a reaction. We were quite submissive, quite passive in the first half, but we didn’t want to go down like that. We wanted to get back to our pressing game, to our aggressive style of attacking football. We wanted to go and try and take the game to them, and in the second half, we did that.”
In Southampton U23s, the Hammers’ development squad came up against a side with no shortage of Premier League 2 knowhow – and, indeed, senior Premier League experience.
That’s the kind of calibre of team we want to come up against – there are youth international players on the pitch, and we have to go and show what we can do against that
Dmitri Halajko
Up against players including Angus Gunn (30 Premier League appearances), Josh Sims (20 appearances) and Callum Slattery (five appearances), the opportunity for the young Irons to pit themselves against that calibre of competitor in the top-flight of Premier League 2 is one which Halajko is confident his players are relishing.
“It was a great calibre of team we were up against,” Halajko confirmed. “You had Angus Gunn in goal and Josh Sims, Jake Hesketh, Callum Slattery and Kayne Ramsay, who have all played in the Premier League.
“In terms of games on the pitch they had far more league games – and Premier League games – than us. In that way, they were more experienced in terms of the amount of senior games they had under their belts.
“That’s the calibre of team we want to come up against – there are youth international players on the pitch, and we have to go and show what we can do against that. There are times we looked naïve and not at our best, but there were times we showed there’s nothing to be scared of.”
