Hammers Under-16s Win Watford Tournament

CONGRATULATIONS to the West Ham United Under-16s who have won the Watford and London International Tournament for the third year in succession.

In a round robin format with five teams per league the young Hammers emerged victorious after picking up maximum points.

Their results were as follows:

West Ham United 4 Rushden & Diamonds 0
West Ham United 2 MK Dons 1
West Ham United 4 Colchester United 1
West Ham United 2 Luton Town 1

Coach Paul Heffer said: "I thought we did very well and I'm very pleased for the boys. Again we were unbeaten, the same as Kevin Keen achieved in this tournament last season. It is pre-season for us really, and it is hard work in these tournaments, but it is nice to go unbeaten to win the tournament and it's also good for all of the boys to get a game under their belts.

"This was the first game of the pre-season for the boys. After only a week of training it's difficult to come in and play four games, even though they are only 20 minutes each way.

"That does take it out of the players. We got a break when the Under-18s played their friendly game against QPR, but there was still a lot of hanging around and the boys coped with it very well.

"I had two teams and tried to make it as even as possible. We lost one boy in the warm-up who pulled a muscle, so we had to keep pulling in an extra player to cover for him, but everyone did well and I'm pleased with all of them."