Youths lose at Birmingham

Birmingham City Under-18s 2-0 West Ham United Under-18s

Tony Carr's side suffered their first defeat of the season on Saturday as they lost out to Birmingham City.

In a hard-fought encounter, the visitors conceded a goal in each half with both coming after free-kicks were played into the box and not cleared. Substitute Balint Bajner made an instant impression and was unlucky to see an effort hit the woodwork which would have levelled matters. Next up is a home match against last year's champions Arsenal at Little Heath on Saturday.

Birmingham took the lead on 20 minutes when a deep free-kick into the visitors' area saw goalkeeper Adam Street fail to collect. The home side were on to capitalise and opened the scoring with a simple tap-in. Chances were at a premium after that until Bajner, who had been away on international duty until late in the week, entered as a half-time replacement.

The Hungarian Under-19 international took just ten minutes to fire in on goal. His effort smashed against the post though and away to safety just when it seemed United would be back in the contest. Birmingham defended their lead after that and took the game out of reach with ten minutes to play when another set-piece was not cleared and the unlucky Street was beaten by a header.  

West Ham United: Street, Brookes, Brown, McNaughton, Fry, Lee (Bajner 46), Kearns (Barrett 60), Payne, Abdulla (Grasser 75), Edgar, Okus
Sub unused: Loveday