Tony Carr is looking forward to a bright future after schoolboys Robert Hall and Dominic Vose fired West Ham United to a 3-0 FA Premier Academy League victory over Crystal Palace.
England Under-17 striker Hall fired the Hammers into the lead shortly after half-time before winger Vose added two late individual goals at Little Heath.
With two more schoolboys - England U16 midfielder Blair Turgott and striker Dylan Tombides - also in the starting lineup, Carr believes things are shaping up well within the club's Academy.
Following Saturday's win over Palace, West Ham are up to fifth in the Group A table, six points behind second-placed Chelsea.
"It was a tough game. In the first half, we had to thank Peter Loveday for making some good saves. Our defending was desperate at times, but we hung in there.
"With four schoolboys in the side, it was always going to be a tough call physically, but we adjusted one or two things in the midfield that weren't quite right and we started on the front foot in the second half and, as much as we might have been grateful for being goalless at half-time, we started to dominate the game.
"We got the first goal through Robert Hall. It was a typical Robert goal and he took it with aplomb. Dominic then popped up with two goals in the last 15 minutes.
"For Robert's goal, he picked up the ball on the edge of the box, created a bit of space and drove the ball low to the keeper's left.
"Dominic's first goal came from a good move in the midfield. We had a two against one situation and Dominic was slipped in and he went round the keeper and drove it in off a defender. Our third goal, he cut in from the left and drove it high into the net from the corner of the six-yard box.
"Dominic scored two very good individual goals, but it was a good all-round team performance against Crystal Palace, who are second in the league. They have got one of the best defensive records, but we've scored three goals and kept a clean sheet ourselves.
"I'm more than pleased and it bodes very well for the future, because we had a very young team who will get better and better. The future is rosy and I think we can look forward to seeing these players develop over the next couple of years."
West Ham host Reading at Little Heath this Saturday, with kick-off at 11am. Admission and parking are both free.
West Ham United: Loveday, Driver, Lampe, McNaughton, Brown, Wearen (Moncur), Vose, Turgott, Abdulla (Purdy), Tombides (Subuola), Hall
Unused subs: Mehmet, Craig