West Ham United U18s 2-3 Tottenham Hotspur U18s
U18 Premier League South Division, Little Heath Training Ground, Saturday 11 May 2024, 11am BST
West Ham United U18s concluded their 2023/24 season with a 2-3 defeat by Tottenham Hotspur, despite two stunning goals from Dan Rigge and Riley Hargan.
Rigge scored the opener directly from a corner in the first half, before Hargan repeated the feat two minutes from full-time.
Three Tottenham Hotspur goals in a second-half flurry around the hour mark, though, would ultimately decide the London derby.
While Kevin Keen’s side had already secured second place in the league table last Tuesday, following a 4-1 win at Crystal Palace, there was no let-up to West Ham's start to their final outing of the campaign.
An early sight of goal arrived after just four minutes as Preston Fearon, returning to the starting XI, combined with Emeka Adiele to almost see Josh Ajala poke home from six yards out.
Chances continued to come for Claret and Blue – Luis Brown and Airidas Golambeckis both headed well-worked set-pieces off target, while Tyron Akpata superbly denied Spurs with a goal-saving challenge after Finlay Herrick misjudged a flighted ball over the West Ham defence – before the Irons took the lead on 26 minutes.
Having threatened repeatedly from set-pieces, Rigge curled his corner under the bar from wide right, which missed everyone on its way into the net.
The second half, though, saw Tottenham quickly come out of the blocks as three goals in 17 second half minutes decided the fixture.
Leo Black curled his free-kick into the bottom corner, and Ellie Lehan tapped home a well-worked move, before Luca Williams-Barnett tricked his way into the penalty area and slotted in a third.
West Ham teased a possible comeback late on when Hargan added the Irons' second directly from a corner, and Josh Briggs then almost poked home an equaliser in stoppage time.
However, Keen's side could not find a third and had to settle for a narrow defeat in their final outing of 2023/24.
West Ham United U18s: Herrick, Medine, Golambeckis, Briggs, Brown, Adiele (Caliste 68) Fearon (Nwosu 68), Akpata ©, Sowunmi, Ajala (Halim 68), Rigge (Hargan 76)
Subs not used: Abraham (GK)
Goals: Rigge 26, Hargan 88
Booked: Medine
Coggin praises a positive season for U18s
Despite defeat on the final day, there have been a lot of positives to take from 2023/24 for West Ham United U18s.
The Hammers progressed from their Premier League Cup group and followed up last season's title with a second-place finish in the U18 Premier League South Division this term.
Reflecting on the season, Coggin challenged a young group, mainly of first-year scholars and younger, to kick on in the next campaign.
He stated: "I thought we started the game well and built on the win against Crystal Palace on Tuesday because the way we played with and without the ball was really mature.
“But we didn’t take the chances we had in the first half and left the game open by the break, and then that meant they could get back into it in the second half.
“But looking at the season as a whole we are really pleased with the group. It is always difficult for a new group to come in after the success of last year, but it has been a real positive to finish second this season.
“The boys have improved a lot throughout the year and that is what we as coaches are here to do.
"We have got a tight-knit group and what we want to do is push younger players into this team, the U21s, with the end goal of getting players into the first team.”
