The young Hammers gained three points on Friday evening as they beat the Manchester United U23s for the second time this season. This was a brilliant display seeing the Hammers comeback from two-nil to finish the game being 3-2 up.
The stars were aligned for young striker Mipo Odubeko, who is currently knocking on the door of the first team with striker Michail Antonio being out with an injury for the rest of the season.
It was a fairytale ending for the young man, scoring against his former team in the final minutes of injury time to give West Ham the win, taking them to 12th place.
The first half started evenly, with the game coinciding with a basketball match – the ball going end-to-end within a matter of seconds. The first opportunity came in the 17th minute from Manchester United midfielder Hannibal Mejbri, who used his magical feet to nutmeg skipper Conor Coventry before striking the ball wide of goal.
After half time was where most of the action was with head coach Dimitri Halajko saying, “I thought the first half was even, they had spells we had spells, we weren’t pleased with our quality on the ball first half, we need to improve that”.
Second Half Drama
Within four minutes of the second half beginning, the Hammers went 1-0 down with midfielder Mark Helm unleashing a rocket of a volley, which was too powerful for goalkeeper Joseph Anang, who’s best efforts weren’t enough to keep the ball from hitting the net.
The game went from bad to worse for the young Hammers, as they conceded an exceptional solo goal from Anthony Elanga, who used to trickery to get past two defenders in the box, to sweetly place the ball into the top right corner. This was an exceptional goal from Elanga, who had only just returned from injury.
Odubeko On Fire
Less than six minutes later, the Hammers revived themselves somewhat, with an excellent long-range strike into the bottom corner from Odubeko giving them their first goal of the night.
Goal of the season alert! Odubeko was back at it again, after receiving a lovely pass from Coventry, creating a picture-perfect moment with Odobeko chesting the ball up onto his right foot on the edge of the box. He belted the ball into the top right corner, leaving the Manchester United goalkeeper eating mud.
Seconds were remaining as the Hammers were ready to accept one point from the game but no one informed Mipo Odubeko who ripped a shot for the stars into the bottom corner. This makes his sixth goal of the season also making it his first hat trick ever in the claret and blue.
With a performance like this, first team manager David Moyes will surely be looking at the teenager as a striking option for the remainder of the season.
Too Little Too Late?
With this win against the Red Devils, the Hammers remain in the relegation zone, level on points with Leicester City who currently sit in 11th place, escaping the relegation places purely based on goal difference.
Halajko’s men will be hoping for Leicester to lose their upcoming game against Tottenham on Monday evening, which would give them a chance to really compete within the current relegation battle.
