Youths beat Palace

The under-18s carried on their tremendous start to the season with a 2-1 victory against Crystal Palace on Saturday morning.

Goals either side of the break from Jack Collison and Junior Stanislas were enough to secure all three points against the Eagles, who netted with 20 minutes remaining to set up a nervy finish.

The result means that Hammers have now won eight of their first nine matches this season, scoring 21 goals in the process.

The opener today came on 20 minutes, when Collison fired in a low shot from the edge of the penalty area, and Hammers doubled their lead just 10 minutes into the second half, when Stanislas collected possession in his own half and raced almost the entire length of the field before producing a smart finish.

Having surrendered a 2-0 lead against Ipswich last week, only to bounce back and snatch a late winner, Tony Carr's team were left with a similarly nervy finish when Palace grabbed a goal back with 20 minutes remaining.

However, this time the young Hammers kept their focus and saw out the victory in relatively comfortable fashion.

Carr said afterwards: "The boys played well again today and it is another good victory to keep the excellent run going.

"We scored two good goals but then took our foot off the pedal a little bit, which allowed Palace to give themselves a chance of pulling it back. That does happen at this level, though, and as they get older, the lads will learn how to kill games off.

"We were still quite comfortable towards the end and, having suffered our first defeat of the season at Norwich a couple of weeks ago, it is pleasing that we have bounced back with two good wins."

Hammers: Blackmore; O'Neill, Spence, Ngala, Widdowson (Fitzgerald 70); Bowes, Collison, Hales, Stanislas; Hunt (Jeffery 85), Sears (Harvey 80). Sub unused: Miller