West Ham U23s extended their hot run of form on Friday night, taking all three points against Norwich City U23s in a match that saw The Hammers run out 4-1 winners away at Colney Training Centre.
Goals from Anthony Scully, Dan Kemp and debutant Amadou Diallo ensured a comfortable win for West Ham.
Opening Exchanges
Norwich started the game as the brighter of the two teams, making a couple of half chances in the opening exchanges, with the most notable being Daniel Adshead’s 25-yard strike which forced an easy catch from the keeper.
The Hammers, who are unchanged from their previous Premier League 2 Division 2 game against Stoke, began to show their quality with a counter attack as Joe Powell’s low driven cross was fired just past the feet of top scorer Anthony Scully.
Early Starters
The deadlock was broken in the 17th minute, following a nice piece of play from Powell, who sent forward Emmanuel Longelo with the opportunity to place a pinpoint cross for Anthony Scully, who picked up his ninth goal in as many games.
Scully’s early goal was West Ham’s tenth scored in the first 20 minutes this season, showing that they tend to start games on the front foot.
Quickfire Goals
With their tails up, The Hammers the doubled their lead. Dan Kemp capitalised on a cross from Longelo, with a left footed half volley into the bottom right corner.
Seven minutes later, Kemp scored his second after receiving a cross across goal from Nathan Holland to tap in to the roof of the net from three yards out to put Dmitri Halajko’s side 3-0 up against his former employers just before half time.
Consolation
The Canaries pulled a goal back in the 56th minute strike from Moroccan striker Gassan Ahadme, to score his second goal in as many games.
It’s the first goal that Hlajko’s side have conceded away from home in a month, after a sloppy clearance from West Ham gave Ahadme the freedom of the pitch to make it 3-1.
Dream Debut
The game was killed off in the 74th minute with a goal from 16-year-old debutant Amadou Diallo, as he showed his pace by knocking the ball past the goalkeeper and keeping his composure to score in an empty net.
The England U17’s forward scored just ten minutes after coming on.
Day To Forget
With five minutes remaining, Norwich’s Andrew Omobamidele received his second yellow card of the game to be sent off after an aggressively late tackle on Bernardo Rosa to cap off a disappointing day for the defender.
Attacking Threat
Dmitri Halajko’s side have now scored four goals in each of their last four games, as they really have started to assert their dominance in the league.
Scoring 28 goals in nine games, the most in the league, the Irons will be a tough outfit to defend against.
With eight victories from nine The Irons remain three points ahead of second placed Manchester United. Halajko’s squad will be looking to extend their undefeated start to the season as they look forward to their fixture against Swansea City next Sunday.
