A hard-fought win was the assessment of West Ham United U21s' return to winning ways from lead coach Steve Potts following Monday's 4-2 Premier League 2 victory at West Bromwich Albion.
Kamarai Swyer, on his return from a loan spell at Crawley Town, put the young Hammers in front, before goals from George Earthy and Michael Forbes stretched the lead to 3-0.
A late flurry from West Brom threatened to stop the east Londoners taking all three points home from the West Midlands until Dan Rigge’s effort secured the Hammers' fifth victory in six PL2 games.
As such, Potts was proud of his side’s character to get over the line but admitted the challenge on Friday evening, when West Ham host Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia in Premier League International Cup Group B at Chigwell Construction Stadium, will be to ensure they do not let their opponents back into the game should they get an advantage. The Irons know a draw in Dagenham will see them secure a place in the quarter-finals...
We were very good at times [at West Brom], but then there were times when things could have been better.
We could have scored more in the first half, and we had our chances. They nearly equalised too, which they should have done, and they hit the bar, so it wasn’t perfect but there was some really good stuff.
We went into half-time two goals up and we had to get careful.
When we got the third goal, we thought that was it, but they got one back and the game turned a bit. They got another one and at 3-2, it looked like if someone was going to score again it would be them.
We did well and went up the pitch and showed a bit of quality when it mattered.
George Earthy linked up through the middle and it came to Dan Rigge, who has shown an excellent finish.
In football, in general, you have to be so careful because things can change so quickly.
Momentum can shift and that was probably the message overall about the game, but I thought we played some good stuff against West Brom.
We’ll move on to the Premier League International Cup, which has been a good competition for us.
It has thrown a lot of different styles at us, but we have done okay so far. If we can get through Friday, and get into the knockouts, that will be another nice test for us.
