While Kaelan Casey was disappointed with the final result at Wycombe Wanderers on Tuesday evening, the young defender and the U21s had plenty of reasons to hold their heads high.
Having beaten four EFL sides on their way to the Bristol Street Motors Trophy last 16, the development side once again went toe-to-toe with senior opposition at Adams Park.
The young Hammers, though, would exit the competition after Wycombe earned a hard-fought 2-1 victory.
“It’s a tough result to take for us,” Casey stated. “All the boys are quite down in the dressing room because we could have [forced penalties] at the end when we had that one cleared off the line.
“But these results are what happens when you start slowly because you get punished at this level.
“I think it is just the physicality and a lot of their players have played in the League and have a bit more intelligence about them. With their style of play, we expected them to be direct and I think it took us a while to get used to it.”
After a Lewis Orford own-goal and a Richard Kone strike in the first half put Wycombe Wanderers two goals ahead, the Hammers needed a big second 45 to have any chance of reaching the last eight.
In truth, the U21s did just that. Gideon Kodua’s second-half strike breathed life into a tie that looked to have gone away from the Hammers, before chances came and went to force penalties in additional time.
Casey was pleased with his side’s efforts to try and force a late equaliser and admitted his side will learn the lessons from the defeat.
“I think it is a credit to the boys for turning it on in the second half and fighting until the end,” he added. “We just needed to put our chances away.
“It is unfortunate, with a couple of clearances off the line. I thought we had nicked a draw and taken it to penalties, to be fair.
"In the second half, I thought the boys defended really well, but it is a tough one to take.
“We have got to pick ourselves up now and focus on the league. We have just got to keep improving between now and the end of the season.”
