West Ham United U21s 2-5 Crystal Palace U21s
Premier League 2, Rush Green Stadium, Friday 4 April 2025, 7pm GMT
It was a tough evening for West Ham United U21s, who despite leading throughout most of the contest, fell to a 5-2 defeat against Crystal Palace in their final home fixture of the Premier League 2 regular season.
The young Hammers twice led on the night through Lewis Orford, but a ruthless late showing from the visitors saw them overturn a 2-1 deficit and extend their unbeaten run to seven matches.
It was a bright start from Mark Robson’s side, who dictated much of the early play and created a succession of promising openings. A Luis Brown pass released Preston Fearon in behind after just three minutes, and although his cross aimed for Kamarai Swyer had good intent, Palace goalkeeper Louie Moulden was quick off his line to intercept.
West Ham’s pressure continued and the best chance of the half not long after. Fearon picked out Sean Moore with an outside-of-the-boot pass down the left, and the winger’s ball across goal was only narrowly out of reach for the sliding Josh Ajala.
At the other end, Finlay Herrick was called into action on the quarter-hour mark, getting down smartly to keep out Ademola Ola-Adebomi’s shot through a crowd of bodies, but it was the home side who struck first.
Orford broke the deadlock on 25 minutes with a classy finish from the edge of the area. Shaping to shoot with his right, he shifted the ball onto his left and wrong-footed Moulden with a precise effort into the far corner.
The hosts might have doubled their lead moments later when Fearon led a quick transition and played in Moore, who was eventually denied by Moulden at a narrowing angle. Fearon then came close to scoring directly from a corner, forcing the Palace stopper to tip his delivery over the bar.
Just 90 seconds into the second half, the visitors restored parity. Herrick was unable to claim a cross and the loose ball fell kindly for Ademola Ola-Adebomi, who slotted home from close range.
The West Ham No1 redeemed himself shortly after with a stunning double save, first denying Zach Marsh and then reacting quickly to keep out Hindolo Mustapha on the rebound.
At the other end, Orford continued to drive his side forward and was inches away from restoring the lead with a clever free-kick that hit the side netting. Then, just after the hour mark, West Ham crafted perhaps their best opportunity of the second half when Swyer launched a counter-attack and linked with Orford and Fearon, whose dinked effort beat Moulden but was cleared off the line.
Orford and West Ham's persistence paid off seven minutes later. Moore’s pinpoint ball over the top found Swyer, whose first-time cross was inch-perfect for Orford to guide into the bottom corner with his left foot once more.
Herrick then produced a sensational save to preserve the lead, somehow tipping Marsh’s close-range drive over the bar. But with ten minutes to play, Palace hit back again. Caleb Kporha cut in from the right and curled a measured effort beyond Herrick to make it 2-2 and swing the momentum in their favour.
In the final minute of normal time, Umeh was slipped through and coolly finished to give Palace the lead for the first time, before Ola-Adebomi added his second in stoppage time, and substitute Seb Williams netted a fifth to round off a punishing end to the contest for the young Hammers.
Despite the result, West Ham remain third in the Premier League 2 table heading into the final round of fixtures. With Chelsea just two points behind, Robson’s side will require a positive result away to Middlesbrough to hold onto their top-three seeding ahead of the play-offs.
West Ham United U21s: Herrick, Briggs, Brown (Golambeckis 68), Akpata, Casey ©, Mayers, Swyer, Orford, Ajala, Fearon (Landers 81), Moore (Oyebade 90)
Subs not used: Terry (GK), Rigge
Goals: Orford 26, 69
Booked: Casey
Crystal Palace U21s: Moulden, Kporha, King, Grante, Browne © (Jemide 74), Reid, Umeh, Rodney, Ola-Adebomi (Williams 90+6), Mustapha (Gibbard 90+7), Marsh (Cardines 77)
Subs not used: Derry
Goals: Ola-Adebomi 47, 90+5, Kporha 80, Umeh 90+1, Williams 90+8
Booked: Kporha, Marsh, Reid
Robson: It wasn’t at the level we’ve shown throughout the season
Following the defeat, lead coach Mark Robson offered an honest assessment of the result which belied the first 80 minutes of the contest.
“I thought we were OK in the first half. Not as sharp as we’ve been, but we got into some really promising positions,” Robson reflected. “It was just that final detail that let us down at times, and perhaps we could’ve been a little more aggressive out of possession too. That’s something we’ve done really well this season, but it didn’t quite come off tonight.
“I thought Lew [Orford] had a really strong game. His two goals were taken really well. Ty [Akpata] also had a good game in the middle and Ezra [Mayers] was excellent again. Fin [Herrick] recovered brilliantly after the mistake and made some fantastic saves; he’s been outstanding for us all season.
“When we went 2-1 up, I thought we were in a good place and might go on to create another chance or two and put the game to bed, but we didn’t.
“I then made a mistake with the shape. I changed it to a back three with two up front, and it didn’t solve the problem we were having down our left-hand side and I hold my hands up for that.
“Having said that, I was disappointed with some of the defending overall. It just wasn’t at the level we’ve shown throughout the season. We didn’t defend our 1v1s well enough, there were too many mistakes and we just didn’t get up to the ball quickly enough.
“It’s disappointing tonight, conceding five, we haven’t looked like doing that all season. It’s been a long season for the boys and some fatigue may have crept in. But we’ll regroup and try and stay as fresh as we can for the play-offs.”
