Crystal Palace U18s 2-1 West Ham United U18s
U18 Premier League South
West Ham United U18s could consider themselves unfortunate to have suffered their first defeat of the season at Crystal Palace on Saturday morning.
Despite losing 2-1 to their hosts – who finished runners-up last season in U18 Premier League South, behind Fulham only on goal difference – the Hammers’ youth team departed Palace’s Academy Training Ground, Copers Cope, with their heads held high.
Kevin Keen’s West Ham team went into the game off the back of an impressive opening-day performance against Reading U18s at Little Heath, where Sonny Perkins’ perfect hat-trick resulted in a 3-1 win for the team in Claret and Blue.
Unchanged from that encounter, they made a slower start in south London this weekend, on the end of some serious Palace pressure in the opening stages.
That eventually warranted a seventh-minute penalty for the home team when Fionn Mooney was brought down inside the West Ham box, with Crystal Palace captain Victor Akinwale stepping up to the mark to slot beyond Jacob Knightbridge.
Despite West Ham going on to enjoy the lion’s share of possession in the remainder of the half, chances proved few and far between, Junior Robinson going closest when he saw his shot from a narrow angle kept out by Palace ‘stopper Owen Goodman.
They got the goal their general play had deserved four minutes before half-time, however, when the Hammers recovered the ball high up the pitch, George Earthy punishing Palace with a clinical finish to net his first goal of the season.
West Ham made the brighter start to the second half as Perkins saw a close-range effort turned onto the post by Goodman.
But it was the hosts who took the lead through Maliq Cadogan on the hour mark, the winger – on the counter-attack for the home team – weaving his way into the Irons’ box and rifling an effort into the corner.
From then on, Keen’s Hammers dominated, first-year scholars Regan Clayton and Earthy both going close but seeing efforts denied by Goodman, who was in admittedly superb form in the Palace net.
Perkins had one final opportunity to draw his team level with five minutes to go, but at the end of a fine West Ham breakaway, the stand-in forward pulled his effort wide.
And try as they might during seven minutes of stoppage time, this time, West Ham’s youth team could not find the goal they deserved to match their endeavour.
It bodes well for the rest of the season and gives us something to build on for the rest of the year
Mark Phillips
“If you were just looking for a performance, Kevin and I were really pleased with the team,” assistant coach Mark Phillips told whufc.com.
“If you take yourself back four months to when we last went to Crystal Palace, we were well beaten then [5-1], and they were much better than us, but we were the better team this time and really played well.
“I actually felt we played far better in defeat this week than we did last week in victory [against Reading]. It’s not always about results at U18s level – of course we try and win our games – but it’s about developing and learning too, and for the second game of the season, we went to last year’s runners-up and were the better side.
“It was a good all-round team performance. We played off good instruction, pressed it high and won it high, and created good chances off it. We definitely at least deserved a draw from the game.
“Everyone did well. It bodes well for the rest of the season and gives us something to build on for the rest of the year. We don’t like losing, but we drove away from there pleased with the way we played.”
Next up for West Ham’s U18s is a home game against Southampton U18s at Little Heath on Saturday 28 August.
Phillips concluded: “Southampton have had two good results so far, but if we play like we played at Palace, we’re going to win a lot more games than we lose this season.”
West Ham United: Knightbridge; Robinson (Evans 90+5), Tarima (Trialist 78), Casey, Forbes (c), Clayton (Falase 90+5), Scarles (Kodua 81), Woods, Orford, Earthy, Perkins
Goal: Earthy 41
Booked: Forbes, Woods