Crystal Palace U18s 3-1 West Ham United U18s
U18 Premier League South, Crystal Palace Academy, Saturday 8 March, 11am GMT
A spirited West Ham United U18s fell to a 3-1 defeat at U18 Premier League South leaders Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon.
Although the Eagles went ahead through Benjamin Casey’s 13th-minute strike, the Hammers grew into the contest and after Andre Dike struck the bar, Josh Landers found a deserved equaliser shortly before half-time with a calm finish - latching onto Riley Ebho’s cut-back - to score his fourth goal in five matches.
But just three minutes after the break, Casey was on hand to tap home his and Palace’s second of the game from inside the six-yard box before substitute Donte Martin bagged a third in second-half stoppage time.
Lauris Coggin’s side worked their opposition tirelessly and had chances to salvage something in south-east London. Their best opportunity came through Dike, who was unable to turn the ball home from a tight angle after getting past Eagles goalkeeper Marcus Hill.
Buoyed by Wednesday’s U18s Premier League Cup semi-final heroics, the young Hammers started positively, with full-backs Ebho and Joe Scanlon flying down their respective wings. Following a corner that was only partially cleared by the home side, the latter delivered a ball that was stabbed goalwards by Dike, but Hill held the striker’s instinctive effort.
Moments later, Finley Hooper was called into action to beat away a Palace free-kick before Jasper Judd’s inviting low ball was scuffed by Seb Williams. But the Irons only cleared so far, as the ball worked its way back into the box before being fired home by Casey.
Shortly after the restart, Palace came forward again, as Jerome Osei danced into the penalty area but fired a shot across goal narrowly wide. The winger then had another chance to double the home side’s lead ten minutes later with a shot that he skewed wide from inside the box following a punch from Hooper.
But as the first half went on, Coggin’s side grew into the game and - after enjoying a long spell of possession - crafted two opportunities in quick succession to level proceedings. First, following a low cross from the advancing Ebho, Elisha Sowunmi drew a smart stop from Hill from point-blank range before Dike broke in behind one-on-one but crashed the crossbar with his venomous strike.
Then, five minutes before the break, West Ham broke with Landers, who cut the ball back to Sowunmi on the edge of the box, but his low left-footed effort was comfortably held by Hill.
The wave of pressure the Hammers mounted on their opponents before half-time had to pay dividends at some point, and they finally got their reward in the 42nd minute. Continuing to cause havoc right-wing, Ebho again cut an inch-perfect ball back across goal, this time finding Landers, who took one touch before calmly releasing a precise finish into the bottom-left corner.
While it was the Irons who finished the first period strongly, the Eagles flew out of the traps in the second half and retook the lead three minutes after the interval as Williams drove a low ball to the back post where Casey lurked to tap home his second of the game.
The goal only spurred the young Hammers on, though, and they almost levelled proceedings for the second time when Landers’ flick-on was stabbed wide of the near post by Riley Hargan from close range just after the hour mark.
Palace then sent on Rylan Brownlie, who got straight into the thick of the action by driving the hosts forward. He teed up Casey who, on a hat-trick, blazed his effort over the crossbar.
The chances kept on coming, as while Dike turned Ebho’s teasing delivery over the bar at one end, Hooper was alert at the other to make a tremendous tip round the post to deny Kai-Reece Adams-Collman’s curling shot.
The Hammers No11 then had another opportunity to restore parity but having done well to clip the ball past Hill, he could not apply the finishing touch to turn a bouncing ball in from a tight angle. Landers then burst into the box with ten minutes to play, but fired his left-footed strike straight at the Palace shot-stopper.
But for all the Irons’ late pressure, Palace scored a third in second-half injury time. Although Hooper did well to save Tyler Whyte’s effort, the ball fell straight to Martin, who finished into an empty net.
Crystal Palace U18s: Hill, Judd, Benamar, Danaher, Somade, Fasida, Drakes-Thomas (Whyte 81), Adams-Collman, Casey (Martin 81), Williams ©, Osei (Brownlie 62)
Subs not used: Whitworth (GK), Okoli
Goals: Casey 13, 48, Martin 90+3
Booked: Martin
West Ham United U18s: Hooper, Ebho, Scanlon (Balogun 69), Medine, Oyebade ©, Kamara, Hargan (Beckford 78), Nwosu, Landers, Sowunmi, Dike
Subs not used: Nightingale (GK), Chigwada, Unwin
Goal: Landers 42
Booked: Sowunmi
Coggin: We created a lot of chances on the day
West Ham United U18s boss Lauris Coggin felt their defeat away at Crystal Palace was an opportunity missed, but was pleased with the volume of chances his side created on Saturday afternoon.
The Young Hammers went toe to toe with the U18 Premier League South table-toppers for the majority of the contest and deservedly went into the break with the score level - after Landers cancelled out Casey’s opener with a clinical finish from inside the box.
Having hit the woodwork and forced the Palace goalkeeper into making saves from point-blank range in the first half, Coggin’s side created a number of opportunities in the second as well, with Dike going close on two occasions.
But unfortunately, West Ham were punished by Casey and substitute Martin as the Eagles claimed the three points in south-east London.
“I think it's an opportunity missed,” said Coggin. “We created a lot of clear chances on the day, but I think the important thing for us is understanding the key moments in the game.
“Five minutes straight after half-time, we failed to manage the momentum of the game and they're the biggest learning moments for us as a young team.
“I think there were key moments that we missed. I think there were a lot of positive individual performances, but if you want to take the next jump as individuals, it's about being ruthless in both those moments with and without the ball.
“We've got two U16s in here, which is a fantastic experience for them to come away to Crystal Palace, which is always tough, dealing with set-pieces, dealing with second balls.
“I think we could have been a little bit nastier, a little bit more aggressive. Again, understanding what the game's offering.”
