West Ham United picked up their first Barclays U18 Premier League Final Stage Group victory by beating Wolverhampton Wanderers.
After opening their end of season campaign with a goalless home draw with Brighton & Hove Albion and a 2-0 away defeat to Derby County, a second-half goal from winger Oscar Borg was enough to confirm a 1-0 success for the Hammers in the Black Country.
During the recent break in league fixtures, Academy Assistant Manager James Rowe took a squad to an international U17 tournament in Abu Dhabi, where the Hammers picked up one win, one draw and one defeat from their three group-stage fixtures.
Upon returning to domestic duty, U18s coach Mark Phillips made five changes from the side that lost away at Derby three weeks ago.
England U18 international goalkeeper Sam Howes returned to the starting line-up, while centre-back Emmanuel Onariase celebrated signing his first professional deal with the Club by joining Alex Pike, Josh Pask and Vashon Neufville in the defence.
The visitors started the game well and set about causing problems to the Wolves back line. Idris Kanu, who has recently stepped up from the U16 squad, looked sharp in attack alongside Joe Powell and Borg as the Hammers looked for the opening goal.
Wolves had their fair share of efforts in the first half too, but nothing that caused too much trouble for Howes in the West Ham goal.
The only goal of the game came seven minutes in the second half when skilful midfielder Grady Diangana’s clever pass through the Wolves defence allowed Borg to tap past Harry Burgoyne.
The win lifts the Hammers to sixth, with four points from their three games.
With four league matches to go, West Ham’s next league fixture is the visit of Liverpool to Little Heath on Saturday 18th April 2015, with kick off scheduled for 11am. Parking and admission for that game are completely FREE as usual.
U18s: Howes, Pike, Onariase, Pask, Neufville, Diangana, Carter, Sylvestre, Borg, Powell, Kanu
Subs: Eggleton, Forde, Hector-Ingram, Elsom.