West Ham Youngsters Continue Great Start To Life In PL2
West Ham grabbed their second win of the season last night in the new youth competition, the PL2. The young players showed a keen eye for goal, scoring 3 goals for the second league match in a row.
The Match
West Ham beat Stoke 3-0 in their first PL2 game and faced a tough test against Newcastle here. Among the XI starting at home were Martin Samuelsen and Toni Martinez, both of whom have been the subject of much fan interest regarding their move up to the first team.
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The Top Flight
There were no goals in the first 25 minutes, but West Ham went closest. A great cross from Neufville gave Browne a header under pressure from the keeper. The attacker beat the keeper to the ball but his effort went just over the bar.
The deadlock was broken by Martinez from the penalty spot after some tricky footwork from Samuelson out of the wing led to a fowl in the box, none of the three defenders around the tricky Norweigan able to land a clean tackle.
West Ham doubled their lead less than 10 minutes after with a smart finish from Marcus Browne. The attacker got down the side of the Newcastle defence and placed the ball into the far corner from a very tight angle, leaving both the defence and goalkeeper questioning how he managed to squeeze it in from there.
The match stayed at 2-0 until the 70th minute when Martinez added his second of the night. He raced onto a loose ball and struck with the outside of his boot to put the game beyond the Magpies.
The Hammers didn’t look like conceding but 8 minutes left a smart Newcastle goal exposed the defence. A ball across found Heardman in acres of space and he finished confidently past the keeper.
Highlights Below:
What The Manager Had To Say
Youth team manager Terry Westley was rightly impressed by his side’s display:
"“That first 45 minutes were as good as I’ve seen us play” he said. “All the hours you work with the players, talking about moving, making angles and playing two-touch. Today we ticked all of those boxes.“We played high pressure stuff and then tidied up and played ourselves. The first half was a masterclass. Marcus Browne was fantastic, he caused Newcastle no end of problems, and we’re talking about a very good team here.“They’re experienced and have a lot of players who have played League football, throughout the team. That should be noted.”"
Future West Ham Stars?
Looking at this performance it’s clear to see we have some future West Ham players coming through. With Oxford, Burke and Fletcher not involved due to first team commitments the star power on display was extremely impressive, giving hope to the fans about the future of the academy.
West Ham have a rich history of producing great talent, and it seems to be continuing with the current crop who will look to carry on winning their PL2 matches. What better way to catch the eye than positive results?
Martin Samuelsen and Toni Martinez should be included in the first team from time to time to boost their learning and understanding of the game, alongside Marcus Browne who played in the Europa match in Romania last week.
The club have a lot of potential in youth right now.