Elliot Lee's brace helped the Dev Squad beat Derby County 3-2
After scoring a brace against league leaders Derby County to help his side secure valuable 3-2 win at Rush Green, Elliot Lee spoke of his delight to be back on the scoresheet.
The striker put in a typically hard-working display and his efforts were richly rewarded, first through a penalty before doubling his tally for the evening with a deft header from Djair Parfitt-Williams’ searching cross.
The brace doubles Lee’s personal tally for the campaign, taking him level with Martin Samuelsen on four goals each.
Reflecting on good night’s work, Lee said: “As a striker, I’ve always said that you go through patches where you don’t score, and then patches where you do. All strikers go through it, I know that now, it’s no bother to me so it’s nice to be back among the goals tonight and hopefully that continues.
“First goal was a pen, obviously having missed my last one before that it was great to redeem myself this time. For the second one Djair put in a great ball, I found a bit of space and flicked it on so I’m really happy tonight.”
As if a match-winning brace was not enough, Lee also had a crucial part in the Hammers’ second, beating his marker to get to the byline before teeing up Marcus Browne.
The young midfielder’s effort was saved by Derby goalkeeper Kelle Roos, however he parried it straight to Josh Cullen who made no mistake with the rebound.
Lee continued with a smile on his face: “Me and Browney were having a little argument about who got the assist because he should’ve scored first time, but I’ll take the assist if it’s being given to me.
“One thing that we’ve been really critical of ourselves is not being ruthless enough. We haven’t seen out several games, we made it hard for ourselves towards the end, like we always do, but we had that bit more ruthlessness which was good and saw the game out.”
The win over the Rams is the Dev Squad’s second in consecutive games having beaten Brighton & Hove Albion last time out, with three wins in the last four games.
With two games in three days coming up next week, Lee said their pick-up in form had come at a crucial time.
“Confidence is everything in football, if we can keep this streak going that would be excellent, hopefully we’ll continue it against Swansea and Exeter, that will bod really well for the team.
“We spoke about how good they were going to be, we knew it was going to be tough, them being top of the league. They had some experienced players out there, so credit to the lads they all put in a shift and we’re all really proud of ourselves.
“These games are always going to be full blooded and it shows great character that we rallied round and didn’t go under. We got stuck in and at the end of the day got the three points.
“As for me personally, we’ll see what happens from here really. I’d like to think I’ve put in a good performance tonight so hopefully I’m allowed to go out on loan, obviously the window closes in a few days. If I don’t, then I’ll continue to work and play well and we’ll see what happens from there.”
The striker put in a typically hard-working display and his efforts were richly rewarded, first through a penalty before doubling his tally for the evening with a deft header from Djair Parfitt-Williams’ searching cross.
The brace doubles Lee’s personal tally for the campaign, taking him level with Martin Samuelsen on four goals each.
Reflecting on good night’s work, Lee said: “As a striker, I’ve always said that you go through patches where you don’t score, and then patches where you do. All strikers go through it, I know that now, it’s no bother to me so it’s nice to be back among the goals tonight and hopefully that continues.
“First goal was a pen, obviously having missed my last one before that it was great to redeem myself this time. For the second one Djair put in a great ball, I found a bit of space and flicked it on so I’m really happy tonight.”
As if a match-winning brace was not enough, Lee also had a crucial part in the Hammers’ second, beating his marker to get to the byline before teeing up Marcus Browne.
The young midfielder’s effort was saved by Derby goalkeeper Kelle Roos, however he parried it straight to Josh Cullen who made no mistake with the rebound.
Lee continued with a smile on his face: “Me and Browney were having a little argument about who got the assist because he should’ve scored first time, but I’ll take the assist if it’s being given to me.
“One thing that we’ve been really critical of ourselves is not being ruthless enough. We haven’t seen out several games, we made it hard for ourselves towards the end, like we always do, but we had that bit more ruthlessness which was good and saw the game out.”
The win over the Rams is the Dev Squad’s second in consecutive games having beaten Brighton & Hove Albion last time out, with three wins in the last four games.
With two games in three days coming up next week, Lee said their pick-up in form had come at a crucial time.
“Confidence is everything in football, if we can keep this streak going that would be excellent, hopefully we’ll continue it against Swansea and Exeter, that will bod really well for the team.
“We spoke about how good they were going to be, we knew it was going to be tough, them being top of the league. They had some experienced players out there, so credit to the lads they all put in a shift and we’re all really proud of ourselves.
“These games are always going to be full blooded and it shows great character that we rallied round and didn’t go under. We got stuck in and at the end of the day got the three points.
“As for me personally, we’ll see what happens from here really. I’d like to think I’ve put in a good performance tonight so hopefully I’m allowed to go out on loan, obviously the window closes in a few days. If I don’t, then I’ll continue to work and play well and we’ll see what happens from there.”