Callum Marshall said the whole West Ham United U18s squad deserved credit for Thursday’s FA Youth Cup semi-final win over Southampton.
The Irons, against the backdrop of London Stadium, put on one of their finest attacking displays of the campaign to beat the Saints 6-1 and secure their spot in the final of the prestigious youth competition against Arsenal.
Marshall grabbed West Ham’s second with a typically clinical finish, while fellow attacker Divin Mubama scored a hat-trick and captain Gideon Kodua capped his own, fine performance with a deserved goal. Substitute Favour Fawunmi wrapped up the six-goal haul late on.
“We’re over the moon,” Marshall told West Ham TV. “It was a great performance from the boys. There was a big build-up to it and, to be honest, I was a bit nervous that we wouldn’t turn up. But I think everyone played their part in a great win.
“After the first five minute of the game, we settled down. It was the first time playing at London Stadium for most of us but I think we played our football and got the result we wanted.”
The U18s settled any nerves of a first showing at London Stadium with a creative finish from Mubama just 11 minutes in, before Marshall added the second just two minutes later when he lashed home a strike across goal.
“It was a brilliant start,” the forward continued. “After Divin scored, it helped to settle us down, and then I managed to get my goal too. I was really happy with it and it all went uphill from there.
“Scoring here was absolutely brilliant. I had planned to do a celebration but it went completely out of the window. I just went with the knee slide and pulled it out in front of the fans, which was a great feeling.”
The Irons had also led by two goals at half-time against Brighton & Hove Albion at the weekend, only to suffer a heart-wrenching 4-3 home defeat to the Seagulls.
Marshall admitted the last result was still fresh in the team’s thoughts during the half-time interval, but the side flying out of the block in the second half helped quell any fears of a repeat.
“I think the defeat against Brighton toughened us up a bit. It made us aware of what could happen in a game and that was our team talk at half-time.
“We had the two goals at half-time but we knew that no lead was a guarantee. We made sure to grab the next goal and went from there.”
