Coventry City Under-18s 0-0 West Ham United Under-18s
Academy Director Tony Carr has expressed his pleasure after watching his Under-18s keep a second consecutive clean sheet in Saturday's goalless FA Premier Academy League draw at Coventry City.
West Ham United's youngsters followed up a 3-0 home win over MK Dons with a resilient display in the Midlands, and could even have snatched all three points with a little more luck in front of goal.
Having watched his team concede six times in their opening three fixtures, Carr was happy to see his players show their worth at the defensive end of the pitch.
"We've been working very hard on that side of the game just to try and improve the team play and the team performance," he said. "At Coventry, I thought it all came together - we worked very hard and it was a very tough game in terms of the intensity of it. There was no quarter asked or given.
"We had a couple of good chances. The first fell to Blair Turgott after great work from Matthias Fanimo. His shot was well-saved on the line by the goalkeeper before being scrambled away. We appealed that it might have gone over the line, but the assistant referee was having none of it.
"Blair had another great chance, too. He was picked out by Eoin Wearen and his touch just let him down. If his first touch had been true he certainly would have gone on and scored because he was right in the centre of the goal with just the goalkeeper to beat."
West Ham sit second in the Academy League Group B table behind leaders Norwich City ahead of Saturday morning's home meeting with Crystal Palace.
West Ham United U18: Cowler, Young, Craig, Sanchez, Potts, Turgott, Wearen, Lletget (Vose), Fanimo, Hall, Subuola (Tombides)
Subs not used: Powell, Hunt, Purdy
*Youth team striker Jack Werndly has been allowed to join Norwich City on a permanent basis after the Norfolk-based club agreed to take over the 17-year-old's scholarship.
Under-16 attacker Kieran Sadlier has been selected for the Republic of Ireland squad for the forthcoming UEFA European U17 Championship qualifying tournament, hosted by Malta, between 20 September and 1 October.