West Ham Uned U21its produced an impressive performance in a pre-season friendly against League One club Northampton Town on Tuesday evening, drawing 0-0 at Sixfields Stadium.
In front of almost 1,000 spectators, including a noisy away contingent of 165 West Ham fans, Mark Robson’s team more than held their own against their League One opponents, appearing well-organised out of possession and confident on the ball throughout.
The young Hammers took a few minutes to settle, with the home side controlling the most of possession in the early stages, but they quickly came into the game. Emeka Adiele looked especially lively down the left, regularly testing the Northampton defence with his quickness and direct running. He twice went in behind the hosts’ backline following long diagonals from Michael Forbes and Luizão, causing the opening corner of the match and drawing a good low save in a one-on-one scenario with Cobblers goalkeeper Lee Burge.
On the other end, West Ham’s defensive form remained solid. Forbes was key in the back, making a crucial block to deny Jack Burroughs following a turnover on the right and regularly stepping out to intercept and instigate counterattacks.
Both teams made several changes in the second half after the game remained goalless at halftime. Fin Herrick was called into action early on, and he made a fantastic close-range stop to deny Elliot List. That save set the tone for a half in which the young Hammers were forced to absorb pressure while remaining dangerous on the break.
As the game continued, West Ham’s replacements provided new vigor. Ezra Mayers and Rayan Oyebade went in, with the latter making a crucial last-ditch tackle to deny the hosts a clear opening.
In the dying moments of the game, new signing Daniel Cummings had the best opportunity. In a back-to-front move, Ryan Battrum found Elisha Sowunmi, who broke the lines with a chipped ball out wide to Regan Clayton, who delivered a perfectly weighted low cross to Cummings. His finish across the goal appeared to be on target, but it was blocked by substitute goalkeeper Ross Fitzsimons.
Finally, the goalless draw was a positive result and performance against a seasoned Northampton side gearing up for their third consecutive League One season.
Northampton Town: Burge (Fitzsimons 69), Burroughs, Campbell, Ireland (88), Willis (Jacobs HT), Hoskins, McGeehan, List, Fornah, Thorniley (Tomlinson 85), Wormleighton (Perkins HT), Baldwin (Dyche HT).
Substitute not used: Dobson.
West Ham United U21s squad: Herrick (Awesu 73), Battrum, Luizão, Caliste (Hargan 80), Golambeckis (Mayers HT), Forbes (Oyebade 57), Moore (Sowunmi 80), Akpata ©, Rigge (Briggs 66), Ajala (Cummings 75), Adiele (Clayton 57).
Robson: We performed very well against a strong League One side
Reflecting on the game, head coach Mark Robson was particularly pleased with his side’s performance against their League One opponents, as well as the levels brought by those who had spent the previous week training with the first team during their pre-season training camp in Germany.
“Maybe they had a bit of pressure on us at the start of each half, but I felt in the first half especially we played really well,” said the coach. “We moved the ball between the lines, our movement was fast, and I felt Finn [Herrick] was brilliant playing out of the back, not just with little passes but also longer ones. He really got us playing.
“I was quite impressed with how we played in and out of possession. The players worked extremely hard as a squad, and we played admirably against what I am confident will be a very strong League One team this season under Kev [Nolan].
“We had a few boys back from the first team who’d been away on their pre-season tour,” the coach added. “They improved our performance slightly. I thought we played pretty well throughout the game.
“Being near the first team, practicing with them, eating with them, and sharing the same space can only increase your desire to be a footballer. We have some outstanding players at the Club, and being able to mix with them for a week is an incredible opportunity. We hope that when the lads return from such experiences, they would share them with us. They see what excellence looks like and, as a result, set higher standards for everyone. “I thought we saw that tonight.”
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.