Stokes Seals Win Over Chelsea


HAMMERS Under-18s have beaten Chelsea 2-1 at Little Heath, goals from Kyel Reid and Tony Stokes securing a pre-Easter three points for Tony Carr's side.

Hammers started the game brightly on a sunny afternoon at Little Heath and took the lead with half an hour gone. Hammers took the direct route, goalkeeper Darren Behcet launching his clearance down-field for Reid to chase. The England Under-17 midfielder took the ball in his stride and fired home into the bottom right corner of the net.

The visitors' responded well though and were level two minutes later when Ben Huddel met a free-kick from the right and scored from close range to send the teams in tied at 1-1.

Tony Carr's team-talk certainly added some fire to West Ham's bellies, as they began the second period with their determination renewed. Hammers sealed all three points when a free-kick found Tony Stokes, who finished coolly to secure a 2-1 victory.

Tony Carr said afterwards: ""I thought that it was a very good game. In the first-half I wouldn't say that we were second best but we were second to a lot of balls.  We addressed that at half-time and we were a little bit sharper and I thought that we dominated the second-half in terms of attacking play. 

"We won 2-1 but could have easily won 4-1. Tony Stokes missed one or two sitters really and you couldn't fault the boys for effort.  Tony could have easily got a hat-trick and it would have been fully deserved .  It was a good all round team performance, it was different for some players who could have been a bit more disciplined especially in midfield."

WHU: Darren Behcet, Jemel Henry, Ryan Andrews, Tommy Laws, Liam White, David Cowley, Kyel Reid, Joe Martin, Tony Stokes (Moses Ashikodi 83 minutes) Hogan Ephraim, Ishmael Welsh (Densal Davidson 87 minutes)