Norwich City U18s 3-2 West Ham United U18s
The Academy side lost out to the odd goal for the second week running in a spirited display away to Norwich City on Saturday.
Danny Potts thought he had given the Hammers a share of the spoils with a late equaliser, only for Norwich to counter and get the decisive strike in added time. The loss followed the 1-0 defeat by Chelsea seven days before but it is always performances not points that ultimately count.
Indeed, Tony Carr was not too downhearted as the squad headed back down the A12, especially given the game came at the end of a week where the likes of Potts and England U19's midweek hero Robert Hall had continued to make individual progress - always the main aim of the Academy's work.
It had all started so brightly with Matthias Fanimo putting the visitors in front after a well-taken move down the left but the Canaries were able to level before the break. Norwich then thought they had won it 2-1 with a goal after the interval only for Potts to pounce four minutes from time.
The young defender - who was on the bench for the first team a week ago at Hull City and struck a late equaliser for the development squad at Gillingham on Tuesday - stayed up from a cleared corner and was on hand to score when the ball was played back across goal.
However, just as Carr and coach Nick Haycock thought they had earned a deserved draw, Norwich showed their strength to come back and win it by the odd goal in five. "It was a disappointing end," Carr told whufc.com. "It wasn't to be for us today and where we were getting the luck before, we are getting none at the moment.
"We had a great run at the start of the season and now we will have to work our way through a sticky spell. We had one or two injuries to contend with and Robert is now with the first team, but we also had Danny Potts and Dominic Vose back in the side.
"Norwich are a strong team and it was a good open game. We had our moments and so did they and in the end they nicked the points. We will come back again and the boys have the incentive of an FA Youth Cup tie at Wolves to come [next month]. They will all want to impress and get in the team for that."
West Ham United: Larkins, Young, Potts, Hurley (T Tombides 75), K Lee, Chambers, Turgott, Powell, E Lee, Vose (Miles 70), Fanimo