High-scoring derby ends in defeat for Under-23s

A fiercely-contested London derby was ultimately settled by a penalty converted early in the second half by West Ham's Armstrong Okoflex as our Under-23s lost a seven-goal thriller on Monday night.

Both sides scored three times each during a rip-roaring first half at Stevenage's Lamex Stadium, Nile John and Alfie Devine initially overturning Pierre Ekwah's opener before John netted again from the penalty spot to equalise at 3-3 after West Ham had wrestled back the upper hand through Dan Chesters and a Marqes Muir own goal.

That was all inside 37 minutes, with further chances spurned at either end during an action-packed first half and although the opportunities dried up after Okoflex's 49th-minute spot kick, the challenges still flew in with both sides determined to take the derby spoils. Ultimately, we weren't able to meaningfully trouble visiting goalkeeper Krisztian Hegyi in the second period, consigning us to a second successive 4-3 defeat in the Premier League 2.

Under-23s Coach Wayne Burnett made one change from the side that lost at Crystal Palace in our last match before the international break with Marcel Lavinier coming in at right-back and Yago Santiago dropping to the bench.

West Ham forged ahead inside seven minutes when, following an initial good stop from Josh Oluwayemi to deny Okoflex, the ball was cleared as far as Ekwah who arrowed a shot into the top corner. But we were level three minutes later as Matthew Craig's excellent pass found Jack Clarke, he was dispossessed on the edge of the area and the ball ran loose to the arriving John, who swept a first-time shot across Hegyi and into the far bottom corner. John turned provider six minutes afterwards as his through ball for Devine ended with the latter smashing a shot in off the far post for his sixth goal in as many Premier League 2 games. But back came the Hammers on 24 minutes as Chesters drove into space on the right and lashed in from the angle, his shot taking a slight deflection on its way past Oluwayemi.

It was breathless stuff as the visitors quickly made it 3-2, Chesters' cross from the right flicked on by Sonny Perkins at the front post and going in off the chest of defender Muir.

Okoflex was just off-target with a curler as West Ham tried to press home the advantage but we restored parity again on 37 minutes when John sent Hegyi the wrong way from the spot after Clarke had been impeded by Aji Alese. The Hammers played a couple of dangerous angled balls across our goal either side of half-time through Harrison Ashby and Chesters - the first going wide and the latter cleared by Lavinier - but when Tobi Omole was adjudged to have fouled Keenan Appiah-Forson as he twisted and turned his way into the box, West Ham took the lead for the third time in the game when Okoflex scored the resulting penalty, despite Oluwayemi getting a slight touch on the ball.

From there, West Ham had the majority of attempts at goal, Okoflex, Perkins and Appiah-Forson all trying shots and although John sent a couple of long-range attempts narrowly off-target, we couldn't muster anything meaningful in the final third with substitute Thierry Nevers having the last chance of the game for West Ham in stoppage time, his bicycle kick sailing over the bar.

'We haven't defended well enough'

Under-23s Coach Wayne cut a frustrated figure after the game: "It's very disappointing to lose the match like this," he said. "I thought it was quite an even game, we've scored three goals again tonight, as we did in the previous game, but we've been conceding goals and we haven't defended well enough. When you don't defend your penalty area and your goal well enough, you concede goals and you lose games, so that's why we're so disappointed."

Match data

Goals: Spurs - John 10, 37 (pen), Devine 16; West Ham - Ekwah 7, Chesters 24, Muir (OG) 26, Okoflex 49 (pen).

Yellow cards: Spurs - Cesay 82; West Ham - Swyer 43, Longelo 84, Ekwah 85.

Referee: Jacob Miles.

Venue: Lamex Stadium, Stevenage.

Weather: Cloudy, gentle breeze, 15 degrees.

Attendance: 434.