Marcus Browne scored four goals last night as West Ham thrashed Everton U23’s 4-0. This comes after a solid 1-0 win over Man City U23’s.
Marcus Browne was captain fantastic in a great win for West Ham U23’s. With this game coming fairly soon after the previous win over Manchester City, there were quite a few changes in the first XI. Previous Everton attendee Nathan Holland dropped to the bench, and so did Diangana, Coventry and Afolayan. But that didn’t stop the Hammers.
Summer signing Saed Hakabanovic should have opened the scoring around the half hour mark, but he couldn’t find a way past the Everton keeper after a poor backpass from the Blues had put him in on goal. He remained lively throughout, and his shot led to the first West Ham goal. Browne following up a stinging effort to slide the ball in from a tight angle.
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From then on, Captain Browne stole the show. He was involved all across the pitch and his four goals will have delighted manager Terry Westley, because they highlighted both the players desire and talent perfectly. In fact, Westley believed Browne was a class above Everton on the night:
"“Marcus was too much for them in every sense. He was too quick, too powerful, his finishing was better tonight. He was the standout player on the pitch, congratulated by the referee, and that shows you how good you’ve been, when the referee does that after the game."
"“Against two really established clubs at an Academy level, they are two great wins and we really took it to Everton tonight. We shook the team up a little bit after the amount of effort that went into Thursday’s game.“It was a chance to play one or two who have been around it and were desperate to get in the team; [Anthony] Scully, Powelly [Joe Powell], Sead [Haksabanovic]. But we kept the basis and the back four of the team together and they really gave us a platform to play off. We attacked really well and the goalkeeper and the back players deserve credit as well tonight.”"
Next: Declan Rice can be West Ham's next big star
It’s a shame the youngster was injured for much of the first half of the season, because he is an obvious talent. If he continues in this vein though, it won’t be long until we see his name in and around the first team. Could this be a rebirth of the academy of football?