Report & Reaction | U21s leapfrogged by Dagenham in final National League Cup group fixture

Dagenham & Redbridge 2-0 West Ham United U21s
National League Cup Group D, Chigwell Construction Stadium, Tuesday 21 January 2025, 7.45pm GMT

West Ham United U21s saw their National League Cup campaign come to an end at the Chigwell Construction Stadium, as Dagenham & Redbridge claimed a 2-0 victory to leapfrog the young Hammers into the final qualification spot for the knockout stages.

Early goals at the start of each half gave the home side the upper hand, leaving the young Hammers to rue missed opportunities in what was an otherwise competitive display.

Josh Umerah opened the scoring in just the third minute, converting a penalty after Connor Parsons went down under pressure in the box. Dagenham continued to press home their momentum forcing some great saves out of Fin Herrick, including a one-on-one stop to deny Dion Pereira and another sharp intervention from a Junior Morias strike.

As the first half progressed, West Ham began to find their rhythm. Tyron Akpata and second-year scholar Preston Fearon orchestrating the attacking play from midfield, while Kamarai Swyer's creativity caused the Dagenham defence problems. A flowing move involving Swyer, Josh Ajala, and Ryan Battrum created the young Hammers' best chance of the half, but goalkeeper Nathan Harvey came off his line to deny Captain Battrum with a crucial save.

West Ham returned for the second half with renewed energy and almost equalised within moments of the restart, as Swyer’s driving run and long-range effort forced Harvey into a strong save. However, Dagenham doubled their lead in the 52nd minute, Trent Rendall nodding home from a well-delivered free kick.

The young Hammers refused to give up and created several golden opportunities of their own. Ezra Mayers came extremely close to halving the deficit, improvising with his torso to guide a perfect Regan Clayton cross on target, only for Harvey to pull off a brilliant reflex save. Junior Robinson then found himself in a perfect position to pull a goal back, following a superb build-up move involving Fearon and Clayton, but his effort flew over the crossbar from point blank range.

The pressure continued to build on the Dagenham goal with Adiele delivering dangerous balls into the box late on, but the Dagenham defence was not to be beaten, holding on to claim the three points which sees them leapfrog the Hammers into the final qualifying spot for the knockout stages.

Dagenham & Redbridge: Harvey, Rutherford (Stephenson 60), Francis, Eastman © (Kalambayi 60), Randall, Harrack, Parsons, N’Guessan, Morias (Hill 60), Pereira (Remy 60), Umerah (Grego-Cox 60)

Subs not used: Terry, Hessenthaler

Goals: Umerah 3 (pen), Rendall 52

West Ham United U21s: Herrick, Golambeckis, Laing (Tarima 67), Mayers, Robinson, Akpata, Fearon (Clayton 82), Adiele, Battrum © (Clayton HT), Swyer, Ajala (Moore 67)

Subs not used: Terry (GK), Rigge, Dolaghan, Brown

Booked: Mayers

Robson: On another day, we put those chances away. It just wasn't to be

Reflecting on West Ham United U21s’ debut National League Cup campaign, which saw the team remain in contention for qualification until the final fixture despite an opening defeat to Braintree, lead coach Mark Robson shared his thoughts on their progression while praising the younger members of the squad for stepping up from U18s football.

"The first ten or 15 minutes of the game we looked a bit nervy. There wasn't enough fluency about our game. We gave away a clumsy early penalty, but we then grew into it. There were some nice moves and runs to get us in behind. Probably more so in the second half. Set pieces are always going to be a problem against these sides; they’re big, they’re strong, they’re powerful."

He continued: "It’s a massive learning curve. I thought even when we were 2-0 down, there were large periods where we were in control. We mixed it up with the shape which helped us and we created the best two chances of the game. On another day, we put those away. It just wasn’t to be.

"We had five young scholars out there, a year or so out of school. To put up a performance like we have, and play as well as we have at times, it's really good to see. Kam [Swyer] was excellent tonight, causing lots of problems with his quality. He stretched them, got in behind them, as did Emeka [Adiele], as did Junior [Robinson]. We caused them a lot of problems. That was quite an experience non-league side out there.

"This campaign has been a good one, a real learning experience, especially for the younger ones coming straight out of U18s football. Preston was excellent out there, coming in for Lew [Orford]. I thought he was tiring a little bit in the second half and was thinking of changing him but I wanted to see how he handled those extra minutes and he did really well. The young lads are all chomping at the bit because they can see there’s an opportunity for them here at the Club if they play really well."

National League Cup Group D