Lee Shines For West Ham Despite Loss

A bitterly cold night in East London saw the West Ham U18s crash out of the FA Youth Cup to an excellent Tottenham Hotspur side 5-2. It was a frustrating game as all 5 of the visitors goals were down to mistakes from the young Hammers. Lining up in a 4-1-4-1 formation West Ham found themselves 3 goals behind within 25 minutes, but managed to pull that back to 2-3 early in the second half. As they searched for an equaliser the impressive Spurs put the game beyond reach with a further 2 goals.

 

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First Half: Tottenham took control of the game from the start as they looked more comfortable on the ball and looked to get forward at every opportunity, with the very impressive Kenneth McEvoy causing problems down the left with his pace and skill.

In the 11th minute McEvoy skipped past West Ham right back, Alexander (who had a tough evening against the speedy winger) and crossed in to give Roman Michael-Percil an easy tap in Just 6 minutes later it was Michael-Percil that would provide the cross from the right for Shaquile Coulthirst to flick in past a flapping Guzman in the West Ham goal.

The 3rd was in the 22nd minute after Luke McGee, the Spurs keeper, caught the ball from a corner and launched it straight down the middle. The bounce was misjudged by Alexander and Man of the Match McEnvoy sprinted through to calmly finish past Guzman.

It was after this that West Ham started to get more possession as they tried to get back into the game in front of the 1189 in attendance. With 7 minutes of the half remaining Elliot Lee fresh from his recent first team debut won the ball on the half way line and raced through to and made no mistake beating McGee and giving the young Hammers a bit of hope as they went in at half time.

Second Half: The home team came out early for the second half and looked much more attacking as Elliot Lee and Kieran Bywater tried to drive them forward. Bywater picked up the ball from Josh Cullen and hit a wonderful shot that looked like it was going in the top corner only for the McGee to tip of the crossbar. The pressure soon paid off as some excellent work from the impressive Lee saw his cross reach Bywater at the far post for him to head home.

 

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With the home fans thinking they might be witnessing a famous come back it was Spurs left back Grant Ward who would bust their bubbles. It was a soft goal to concede as Guzman thought he had the ball covered only to watch it over his head into the top corner. As the Hammers desperately tried to get back into it Tottenham killed the game off completely when McEvoy scored his second of the night with a tap in a rebound; a disappointing end to a disappointing night seeing West Ham out of the cup for another year.

Player Ratings: Guzman Rosique: 3 – Made an excellent save near the end when Spurs were through one on one but apart from that had a really poor game. Awful mistake for their 4th and should have done better with 3 of the others.

Alexander: 4 – He will be disappointed with his first half performance as the excellent McEvoy caused him problems. Misread the ball for their 3rd. He improved in the second half.

Harney: 4 – Struggled against the 3 man attack from Spurs who were all quick. Gave the ball away for their 5th.

Nasha: 5 – Same as Harney in central defence, struggled against the pace of the Tottenham forward players. Subbed off as we chased the game.

Shaw: 6 – As with the other defenders he found it tough against the pace of Michael-Percil but did look good going forward.

Miles: 5 – Worked hard and didn’t stop running, as with all players he struggled keeping possession. Subbed on 70 mins.

Cullen: 6 – playing in central midfield he did well trying to keep the ball moving and supplying our forward players.

Mavila: 4 – Left footed but played on the right all game which meant he just didn’t get into the game. I guess this was because we only ha the short Lee up front so no point in him getting crosses in which is usually the strongest part of his game.

Bywater: 6 – Tried hard to drag the team back into the game, had a great shot saved and scored 1.

Sadlier: 5 – Similar problem to Mavila in that he was played on the left when he is right footed. Showed some of his technical ability in the first half and nearly opened up their defence but had a much quieter game than he is used to.

Lee: 7 – Certainly our best player and kept trying to get a goal as our loan striker. Took his goal very well and great work for his assist too.

 Overall – The players will all be very disappointed, not just because of the result but because they all know they are better than the performance they put in tonight. All showed a good attitude after the game promising to learn from the defeat and fight back as they concentrate on their Tier 1 Premier League campaign.

For updates from The Academy please follow me on Twitter @WillisJamieson

 

 

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