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)
Stokes Seals Win Over Chelsea
19th March 2005