Mark Robson was full of praise for how West Ham United U21s stood up to the test of facing National League side Dagenham & Redbridge.
The young Hammers gave a composed and mature performance at Victoria Road against the Daggers, taking the lead through Regan Clayton’s low effort in the first half, and looked set to end their pre-season campaign with a victory.
However, an unfortunate Angelo Ogbonna own-goal towards the end of the second half meant the fixture ended honours even between the east London neighbours.
Lead coach Robson took plenty of positives from his side’s efforts
“It was a good test for us,” he told whufc.com. “Physically, Dagenham are a strong team and, for our lads, it’s good because it’s a different experience for them.
“I thought we stood up really well today. There were set-pieces coming into the box and they made it really difficult for us, but I thought we stood up really well and one or two of the boys came out of it with flying colours.”
Clayton’s cool finish came on 17 minutes following a flowing team move, and Robson was particularly delighted with the manner of the Hammers’ finish.
The lead coach acknowledged the Irons could have perhaps enjoyed a greater lead at the interval, with Mipo Odubeko also seeing an effort ruled out for offside, but was also happy at how the young side dealt with Dagenham’s attempts to come back into the game.
“One of the things we work on in training is getting runners in behind, and we had a nice bit of play from the back which went through the middle. We got it wide and down the side, with a runner from behind. Regan has kept going and got on the end of the pass. It was a fantastic team goal, and I thought we had a couple of moves like that today.
“We maybe could have done a little better than we did with some of them, but we caused Dagenham problems today, which is what I asked the boys to do. We got into some really good positions. I’d like just a little bit more awareness maybe – a little more calmness and coolness, in terms of selecting the right pass or right movement – and maybe we could have come in at half-time further ahead.
“But, to be fair to the boys, they know it’s something we’re trying to work on and do more of it. Hopefully, we’ll keep getting better.
“Dagenham got on top of us a bit in the second half and the boy up top, Paul McCallum, is a real handful. It was a great test for the younger ones and I thought we dealt with it okay. We’ve worked really hard this week as well and I knew we may fade a little bit in the final 20 minutes, because of the hard graft the boys have put in.”
While Ogbonna’s own goal was unfortunate, Robson preferred to focus on the immense impact his involvement had on the U21s involved in Saturday’s match.
“It was really unlucky for Angelo. It was great for our young lads to be involved with Angelo. I thought Levi Laing was really good today and there was no doubt that he was helped by Angelo, who is a greatly experienced player.
“He led by example for the boys. He won his headers and played on the ball when he could.”
With the pre-season schedule now complete, attention turns to the first Premier League 2 Division 1 Match of the 2022/23 calendar, with the Hammers facing Fulham on Friday.
Robson is eager to get the campaign off to a flying start.
“It’s been a good pre-season,” he concluded. “We’ve had a couple of really good trips and we’ve done some good bonding with the younger lads that have come in, and the new staff as well. Everyone has worked really well and, physically, the boys look like they’re in decent shape.
“We play our first game on Friday and the plan is to hit the ground running in the league, and fingers crossed we’re able to do that. Overall, there’s been a couple of good performances and a couple that we’re quite as good as we’d like, but every team has ups and downs, and I thought we showed some real good stuff against Dagenham.”
