West Ham United U21’s 3-0 Aston Villa U21’s
Team: WHU – Spiegel, Driver, Ruddock, Chambers, Potts (Shaw 88), Whitehead, Lletget, Moncur, Turgott, D Tombides (McCallum 85), Lee. Unused Subs – Nemrava, Nasha! Sadlier.
Villa: Steer, Lyden, Donacien, Bateman (Wildin 35), Webb, Gardner, Sylla (Cowans 27), Albrighton (O’Brien 72mins), Johnson, Robinson, Bowery. Unused Subs – Sellars, Watkins.
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The U21 Premier League got off to a fantastic start for West Ham as they secured a 3-0 win at their home ground on a mild night at Rush Green Stadium. Elliot Lee gave West Ham the lead and then added a second midway through the first half, the third came to Sebastien Lletget in the dying moments of the thrilling contest.
It was an attacking start for West Ham playing what looked like a 4-1-4-1 formation with Whitehead playing the holding midfield role and Llegett often further forward in the middle with Moncur. Turgott and Tombides were playing wide with Lee the lone striker.
Despite the bright start the first real chance of the game came to Villa in the 7th Minute,a counter attack lead to a cross from the right wing, only to be cleared out for a corner by centre back Leo Chambers, back from a long injury. After this early scare it was chance after chance for the home side, the first of these was a neat through ball from Moncur to Turgott and instead of going for glory laid of to Elliot Lee for a tap in to an open goal, somehow he got his feet tangled and the ball rolled wide.
Villa looked dangerous on the break and a couple of times broke through the hammers defence only to see their shot blocked by a tackle just in time, first by the excellent Pelly Ruddock and then a couple of minutes later by Dan Potts.
The exciting half continued as West Ham came forward with a well worked routine between Daniel Potts and Dylan Tombides, Tombides then managed to get the cross in to George Moncur who smashed it on the volley but was well saved by Steer in the Villians goal, the ball came out to Turgott who crossed into Lletget who with a similar strike to Moncur saw his shot blocked by the defence.
The deadlock was broken with a goal from Elliot Lee in the 25th Minute, a brilliant cross by Tombides dipped over Blair Turgott and the defence and fell for Lee to tap it in at the far post, a well-deserved lead.
Moncur who during the evening showed great skill by taking corners with his left and right foot depending on what side it is on put a great in swinging cross into the six yard box which Ruddock headed onto the crossbar, Elliot Lee was on hand as he headed the rebound in to give West Ham and himself the second goal of the game.
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Unfortunately the second half wasn’t nearly as exciting as the first with the home side looking happy to keep their lead and the visitors rarely bothering the Hammers defence. That was until Pelly Ruddock made a a great tackle to win the ball only for the ref to wrongly point to the spot. Gardner stepped up for Villa and hit the ball at least 6 foot over the crossbar, it is the worst penalty I have ever seen and caused all the spectators to laugh.
Dylan Tombides who had caused the Villa defence problems all night with his close control, his speed and his clever play was substituted after 85 mins to a warm round of applause, it is great to see him back after his health problems.
The game was all but over when another Moncur corner, left footed this time, wasn’t dealt with and the ball fell to Seb Lletget who poked it home for a very enjoyable 3-0 victory.
The new format to the premier league see the U21s in a league of 22. They will play each other team once, either home or away, 11 away games, 10 home games. The top four at the end of the league will go into a semi final / final playoff with the winners being crowned champions.
The squad we have would have an excellent chance of doing well, however with a number of scouts watching the team tonight it is thought a number will go out on loan.
Our next home game is on Fri 23rd Aug v Tottenham, 7pm kick off at The Boleyn. Free entry for season ticket holders. £3 for adults and £1 for kids.
Player reviews:
Spiegel – 7 – Didn’t really have loads to do, but what he did he did well.
Driver – 7 – Captained the side and was part of a very strong defence.
Chambers – 7 – Played in central defence and as usual never looked hurried or in trouble.
Ruddock – 8 – Fantastic display, very strong, never in trouble. Made a great goal saving tackle in first half and unlucky not to score.
Potts – 7 – Strong in defence and got forward well, put in some excellent crosses.
Whitehead – 5 – Played as a defensive midfielder and sadly gave the ball away far too much, the two blocks in the first half by Poots and Ruddock both game from Danny giving the ball away in dangerous positions.
Moncur – 8 – First 10 minutes he seemed to find it hard getting into the game, but as it went on he did better and better. Always looks for the ball, two footed and always looks to drive the team forward.
Lletget – 7 – Quieter than usual game for Seb, but got into it more in the second half including getting the final goal.
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Turgott – 6 – He was a good outlet and really should have had an assist when he played Lee in with an unselfish through ball. Apart from that he didn’t cause Villa too many problems and defensively he didn’t chase back as much as he should have.
Tombides – 9 – A great performance, both going forward and when chasing back. Always looking to run at the defenders and always looked dangerous. Got a well deserved assist and also cleared a headed corner off the line.
Lee – 8 – After seeing such an easy chance go wide he did really well to not let his head go down and did well to score his 2 goals. He nearly got a hat trick too as a shot in the second half just went wide.
Overall it was a really good team performance, exciting football and a great start to the league campaign.
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Villa have had a good record at this level in recent years,so this result looks even more impressive.