Under-18s enjoy thumping win at West Ham

Our Under-18s produced a five-star showing to breeze past West Ham United at Little Heath on Saturday.

Oliver Boast contributed a well-taken brace to add to Armend Muslika’s opener as we surged into a 3-0 lead in the first half, with the England Under-17 international only denied his hat-trick by the crossbar at the start of the second period as we stayed on the front foot.

West Ham had a spell of possession as the half went on without causing any major problems for Blake Irow, before Muslika doubled his tally against the run of play with five minutes to go, pouncing on a wayward clearance from goalkeeper Lanre Awesu to fire home. Under-16s striker Frankie Day – on for Boast – added the icing on the cake in stoppage time with his first goal at this level to complete a resounding 5-0 final scoreline.

Further good news saw the returns of captain George Feeney and Harry Byrne, who both picked up their first competitive minutes of the campaign after getting injured in pre-season. Feeney was influential in the opening period with some fine touches and passes in the central areas while Boast showed tremendous strength at centre-forward, proving to be a real thorn in the Hammers’ side.

Elijah Upson set up Muslika for a great chance inside four minutes but he fired wide, while Miracle Adewole put the burners on down the left to drive into space and in-field towards goal, only to be denied by a well-timed tackle from behind by West Ham skipper Callum Leacock as he worked himself into a shooting position.

Feeney was instrumental in the opening goal after 22 minutes as his excellent pass from midfield released Leon Myrtaj on the right and he squared for Muslika to take a touch and convert from inside the box. Upson was unlucky as he tried to steer Tyler Tingey’s cross towards goal but it was soon 2-0, Cameron Thomas’ quickly-taken free-kick sending Adewole bursting away down the left and he teed up Boast to fire home with 35 minutes on the watch.

Four minutes later, Boast had a second – a clinical finish across goal from Oscar Sandiford’s cut-back – and although West Ham fashioned a couple of openings in the latter stages of the first half, they couldn’t trouble Irow in goal.

West Ham’s Andre Dike almost scored on the counter five minutes after the restart but was denied by a combination of the advancing goalkeeper and retreating full-back Thomas, before Boast went agonisingly close to his hat-trick at the other end, robbing keeper Awesu at the edge of the box as he came out to intercept Sandiford’s cross-field pass towards Adewole but then seeing his floated shot towards the empty net crash off the crossbar.

The hosts were starting to have more of the ball and we had to work hard to keep them at bay, but a fourth goal for us in the 85th minute killed them off as Muslika latched onto a loose pass out from the back by Awesu and clinically fired inside the far post. Muslika flashed another effort across goal from a tight angle as he sought his treble before the hard-working Day got his reward for an impressive performance off the bench, the youngster exhibiting some good footwork before picking out the bottom corner, setting the seal on a great day’s work by the team.

‘We’ve come away very happy’

Interim Under-18s Coach Joe Staunton was pleased with his side’s endeavours at either end of the pitch: “We often talk about both sides of the game in terms of being able to affect the scoreline and being effective in both penalty boxes, so keeping a clean sheet is something that we’re always pushing for, but also having scored five good goals, we’ve come away very happy,” he said. “You know when you play West Ham, they’re going to have a togetherness about them with some good players on show and they always prove to be a challenging opponent. We’re really pleased with the way the boys handled the full 95 minutes to come away with a 5-0 win.”

On the goalscorers, Joe added: “Ollie Boast always shows a desperation to score – he’s a typical centre-forward who knows where the goal is and prides himself on hitting the back of the net. He was unfortunate maybe not to have got a third today and Armend as well is someone who shows he can be effective around the penalty box, he’s already contributed a couple of goals and assists over the early part of the season and one of his objectives is to continue to do so. Frankie was excellent when he came on – Ollie came off the pitch and Frankie filled his shoes brilliantly, and was able to dominate his man. I’m really pleased that he managed to get his goal because he was thoroughly deserving of that.”