- West Ham United PL2 recorded a 2-2 draw with Leicester City in the Premier League Cup on Thursday
- Declan Rice bagged his first of the season while Nathan Holland notched a first in Claret and Blue
- Terry Westley was pleased to see his team dominate proceedings
West Ham United U23 boss Terry Westley was delighted to see his team dominate in their Premier League Cup clash against Leicester City on Thursday, though the hosts could only record a 2-2 draw.
The Hammers were taking on the Foxes for the second time this season in the competition having beat them back in 2016.
A win would have all-but sealed Westley’s side’s place in the knockout stages of the tournament, but the manager was pleased with his team’s display despite only picking up a point.
He said: “Again, we played some really good stuff and we dominated the game from start to finish. We created a lot of opportunities but we weren’t clinical enough.
“In the defending third we gave away too much and two goals was too many for me.
“It’s a good point because Leicester don’t get any closer to us in the little league format of this group and now we turn our attentions to Monday when we take on Nottingham Forest in this competition.
“A win would have probably guaranteed us a place in the last 16, and if you score two at home, you probably expect to win so we’re disappointed with the two we let in.”
The Hammers fell behind early when Admiral Muskwe robbed Josh Pask of possession and slotted past Raphael Spiegel, however skipper Declan Rice equalised soon after, beautifully flicking home from a corner.
On the stroke of half time, Muskwe added a second for the visitors and they looked to be heading back to Leicestershire with all three points until, four minutes from time, January signing Nathan Holland popped up to earn West Ham a draw.
“I felt as long as we kept playing our football and didn’t resort to going long or get desperate, [we would equalise],” continued Westley. “We were saying that from the sideline.
“If you keep doing the right things and keep probing, eventually you get your rewards and it was a good goal from Nathan Holland. He just used the defender to bend it and it was a good finish and a good goal by Declan [Rice] earlier in the game.
“Nathan’s settled well and we have a good group who have welcomed him and think he’s talented. He’s shown his quality in training and again tonight he has shown flashes.
“Sometimes in youth development you look at the game and say who was the standout layer? In Domingos Quina, we had the best player by an absolute country mile tonight.
“His work rate, defensively, with the ball, making opportunities, he was the standout one.”