Under-18s lose out to Hammers

West Ham’s Sam Caiger lashed home a 78th-minute winner as our Under-18s lost by the odd goal in five at Hotspur Way on Saturday.

We had twice pegged the visitors back after falling behind either side of half-time, Enock Asante and Chay Cooper with two decent strikes, but when left-back Caiger converted after defender Marqes Muir had blocked substitute Gael Kileba’s attempt in the box, there was to be no third reply and the Hammers escaped with a 3-2 victory.

Striker Asante and midfielder Rafferty Pedder tested Hammers goalkeeper Krisztián Hegyi early on but it was the visitors who forged ahead in the eighth minute when Veron Parkes found Kai Corbett after a counter-attack and he slotted into the bottom corner of Kacper Kurylowicz’s net.

Neither keeper was seriously tested for the remainder of the half but when striker Asante shifted out to the right at half-time, he immediately began to enjoy better fortunes. We were level seven minutes after the restart after great work by Tarrelle Whittaker on the left saw him deliver a fine cross into the middle, where Asante was on hand to thump a first-time shot high into the net.

Parity only lasted four minutes, however, as Dermi Lusala was penalised for a challenge six yards outside our box and Parkes struck a right-footed free-kick from right of centre into the far top corner, via a slight deflection to restore his side’s advantage.

Momentum in the hotly-contested London derby swung back in our favour mid-way through the second half as Cooper sent Asante running towards the byline on the right before taking his return pass and drilling across Hegyi and inside the far post for 2-2. You sensed we might have pushed on to win from there but when Caiger latched onto the loose ball in the box after Muir had blocked Kileba’s shot and lashed in from a tight angle on the left, it was the visitors who found themselves in front once again – a lead they held onto until full-time.

Key moment

West Ham dealt us a big blow with their third goal 12 minutes from time – a strike that sealed the victory for them. Having worked hard to equalise twice over the course of the game, we gave ourselves a platform to push on and claim what would have been a third consecutive Under-18 Premier League win. Caiger had other ideas, however, and smashed high into the net from a tight angle on the left to make it 3-2 and, from that point, there was no way back for us.

Coach’s view

Under-18s Coach Matt Taylor said: “We had lots of the ball but ultimately we didn’t make it count and in the end they probably had the better chances. There’s a lot for us to learn from and work on. It was a strange game because I thought we started quite well and then ended up going behind. That knocked us slightly but we continued to be patient and came out in the second half very well. We got back in the game and at that point I thought we’d be in the ascendancy slightly more but we weren’t and they scored a very good free-kick from their point of view – disappointing from ours. I suppose we made too many errors defensively today and got punished for it so it’s a big lesson for the players to learn. We showed lots of commitment today but we didn’t show enough conviction in the right areas of the pitch, both in defending and attacking.”