West Ham United U18s 2-5 West Bromwich Albion U18s
U18 Premier League South Division, Rush Green Stadium, Saturday 17 February, 12pm GMT
West Ham United U18s suffered a disappointing home defeat at the hands of West Bromwich Albion, losing out 5-2 at Rush Green Stadium.
Eseosa Sule capped off an early move to put the visitors ahead inside ten minutes, before Favour Fawunmi’s quick-fire double turned the game on its head. Adriel Walker then levelled minutes later with a looping header for West Brom when the Hammers failed to deal with a set-piece.
Sule headed home Divine Onyemachi’s cross to restore the visitors’ advantage a minute after the restart, before completing his hat-trick on 84 minutes. Cheick Kone added a fifth for his side late on to round off a forgettable afternoon for the young Hammers.
The hosts were given an early warning of West Brom’s intent as Daniel Chimeciri headed wide unmarked from Cole Deeming’s corner.
And within 60 seconds they took advantage as part of a spell of early dominance, when Chimeciri skipped past Ezra Mayers on the right wing before his low driven cross was steered home expertly by Sule.
West Ham searched for a route back into the game and almost found it when Fawunmi’s powerful effort crashed back off the post, while Fin Herrick’s one-on-one save soon afterwards prevented Sule from doubling the visitors’ advantage.
But Kevin Keen’s side responded emphatically with two goals inside three minutes.
The spritely Fawunmi kept picking up the ball in space and driving towards the West Brom defence, and was rewarded with a 27th-minute equaliser. Emeka Adiele’s defence-splitting pass sent the forward speeding clear of the visitors’ defence to finish beyond goalkeeper Louis Brady.
There was a sense of déjà vu about West Ham’s second of the afternoon as Adiele threaded another inch-perfect ball through to Fawunmi, who lashed a superb, angled drive into the far corner.
However, the Hammers' lead lasted little over five minutes as West Brom restored parity after 35 minutes. A deep free-kick wasn’t dealt with by the home defence, and Walker headed home at the second attempt.
Sule put West Brom back in front after the restart when he headed home Onyemachi’s clipped left-wing cross.
Although the Irons improved dramatically after going behind, they failed time and again to break through the organised Baggies defence, and rarely came close to levelling. The closest they came was through Elisha Sowumni’s effort, which crashed back off the post.
The home side threw bodies forward in the final ten minutes in a bid to try and earn a point, but the visitors sealed victory with two late goals at the other end.
Sule bagged his hat-trick after 84 minutes when he raced clear and slotted under Herrick, before Kone headed home a fifth from underneath the crossbar in the dying embers.
West Ham United U18s: Herrick, Golambeckis, Oyebade, Mayers, Medine, Adiele (Umolu 46), Battrum (Kamara 46), Akpata, Sowunmi, Fawunmi, Ajala
Subs not used: Abraham, Hargan, Parker
Goals: Fawunmi 27, 30
Booked: Herrick, Kamara
Keen: We need to learn lessons from this game
U18s lead coach Kevin Keen says his side have to learn some lessons from their disappointing defeat to West Bromwich Albion.
The U18s remain top of the U18 Premier League South Division table, but have now suffered consecutive defeats for the first time this campaign.
“We’re conceding too many goals at the moment, he explained. "We lost 3-2 to Chelsea during the week and conceded three at Fulham the week before. You can’t always get four or fives on your own scoresheet.
“We’ve got to learn that if you're going to be a professional footballer then you’ve got to play three games in a week, and there were a few jaded legs out there. We’ve got to take some lessons from that as it was a tough one today.
"We need to work better as a team to make sure we are better defensively than we have been. We’ve been a little bit too open when going forward, and teams over the last week or so have exploited that.
“I thought Favour [Fawunmi] was probably our best player today, and the second goal especially was a good goal.
“Credit to West Brom today, they were very strong, powerful and scored a couple of good goals. I thought they were good."
Up Next
West Ham United U18s are next in action against Southampton on Saturday 24 February.
Kick-off is set for 11.30am at Little Heath.
