It took Grady Diangana just six minutes to break the deadlock in West Ham United U23s’ 3-0 away victory at Manchester United on Monday and the winger – who scored with virtually his first touch – was delighted to make such a fast impact.
After a goalless first half at the Leigh Sports Village, the Hammers raced out the blocks in the second half – in part due to the influence substitute Diangana, who was introduced at half time, had on the match – and quickly took the lead.
The creative midfielder, who won’t score too many simpler goals in his career, was presented with a simple two-yard header to make it 1-0 but showed more of his natural ability 20 minutes later, curling in a lovely cross for Toni Martinez to make it 2-0.
Soon after, Martin Samuelsen added a third with a superb individual effort that capped off a terrific performance and a second victory over Manchester United of the campaign.
And given Diangana’s impressive display over 45 minutes for Terry Westley’s men, the youngster now has his sights set on a starting spot later this week.
He said: “We’ll see if I’m in the team when we play Leicester on Friday but with that performance from the bench tonight hopefully I’ve made a good case to be.
“I love it when there is another game coming quickly; it’s good because you get another quick chance to show what you can do.
“I was disappointed when I was told I was on the bench tonight, yeah, I was quite upset but it’s football; you can’t dwell on it and be upset because that’s football. You have to deal with it, get on with it.”
When I’m on the pitch, I’m there to try and contribute to goals and to come off the bench and do that early, of course it’s always good for me
Grady Diangana
“When I’m on the pitch, I’m there to try and contribute to goals and to come off the bench and do that early, of course it’s always good for me,” he continued. “I wanted to make an impact as quickly as I could and obviously scoring pretty soon after half time was great.
“I don’t score many headers either! I probably get about one a season so it’s nice to score with the head as well!
“Toni got the flick on and the goalie tipped it on to the bar and I was just there in the right place at the right time to nod it in. You have to get in the six-yard-box for those sort of scraps that might come your way.
“Goals are my main target at the moment so however they come, I’m happy with.
“To set up Toni’s goal, it was more of a natural move for me, cutting onto my left and crossing for him. I saw three of them hanging at the back post so I thought if I just put it in that area, one will put it in and luckily Toni did and I’m very pleased.”
As if the goal was not enough of a turning-point, the hosts’ chances of getting anything from the game were significantly reduced moments after when Diangana was again involved in a crucial point in the fixture.
Collecting the ball around the halfway mark, the midfielder turned but felt the full force of Man United midfielder Luka Ercolani’s right boot before the Red Devil received his marching orders by the referee.
“The red card was the right decision in my opinion, too,” Diangana recalled of the moment. “He caught me right on the nose, so I don’t think he can have too many complaints about that; you can tell by that the challenge was high. It’s a bit swollen.
“I think after the red, we really controlled it and when we saw the opportunities to get bodies forward, we did exactly that and that’s what helped us get the three goals.”