There were joyous scenes as West Ham United U23’s earned their first win in the Premier League 2 this season, as they beat Manchester United 2-0 at Rush Green Stadium. With a brilliant defensive performance, the young Hammers were able to counter-press the Red Devils into scoring two goals.
First Half Chances
Oladapo Afolayan thought he’d scored his fifth goal of the season in the 32nd minute, after Bernardo Rosa’s brilliant run on the ball passing several players, leading to a perfectly-timed through ball to Keenan Forson, who neatly laid the ball into the path of an eager Afolayan. Unfortunately for Afolayan, Manchester United defender Will Fish got to the ball before him, scoring an own goal for the visitors.
This was shortly followed by an absolute rocket of a shot into the stands by Jayden Fevrier, after turning his marker inside out with an impressive skill. The Hammers had a number of chances to double their advantage before the break, but they went in at half time 1-0 up.
Second Half Resilience
Early in the second half, the Red Devils conceded a penalty, after right back Ethan Laird and midfielder Arnau Puigmal both brought Daniel Chesters down in the penalty area in a tangle of legs.
Afolayan sent the keeper the wrong way, scoring his second penalty kick of the week, doubling the lead to make it 2-0 to the Hammers. This takes his goal tally up to five this season, coach Dmitri Halajko will be hoping the young striker will be able to keep this form up throughout the season.
West Ham performed admirably as they were constantly under threat from the United attackers. They managed to see the game out without conceding, making it the first win in the league campaign where the Irons have kept a clean sheet.
Goalscorer Afolayan was excited with the young Irons first win and later said in an interview with the club media team:
“It feels great … we’ve really worked hard this season and not always got the results we feel like we’ve deserved.”
“There were some unbelievable performances at the back. The whole team played really well, and I think that was the biggest thing: we backed one another up and worked well together.”
22-year-old Nathan Trott made his second appearance of the season after Joseph Anang was suspended in the 4-2 loss against Liverpool. Trott was extremely impressive while the Hammers managed to keep a clean sheet against an in-form United side who have scored a total of 19 goals in the eight games prior, averaging two goals a game. Trott, with help from the back four’s unbreakable wall, was able to stop Manchester United from putting the ball in the back of the net.
Halajko’s squad will be hoping to use this win to turn their season around, with a dominating win like this, it will give the players some of the confidence they had season in their unbeaten run. Hopefully they can use this match to build momentum into their upcoming game against Everton on the 14th December.
