Brown happy with first goal of the season

Jordan Brown was delighted to open his account for the season
West Ham United striker Jordan Brown was delighted to open his account for the season with a well taken finish for the Dev Squad, just four minutes into their game against Newcastle United.

The 18-year-old striker collected the ball on the edge of the area, burst through the defence and slotted coolly past Magpies’ goalkeeper Brendan Pearson.

Speaking after the game, the No9 said: “I’m happy to score my first goal of the season but disappointed we didn’t get the win.

“I’m happy with my goal; I just composed myself and put it in the back of the net.”

The young Hammers started the brighter side, and had further opportunities to score. Brown went close several times as did Marcus Browne, Djair Parfitt-Williams and George Dobson.

However the visiting Magpies rallied, equalising through Ivan Toney’s finish before Callum Roberts scored late on. However, Martin Samuelsen managed to salvage his side a point with a 90th minute penalty which he confidently tucked away.

“We were the team with most chances, I’d like to see the possession stats but we definitely had the most chances.

“That is a big positive. We got our first point which is good for confidence, even though we’ve played better this season and lost.”

Another positive for the Hammers was Michail Antonio’s impressive performance. The winger looked dangerous every time he was on the ball before being replaced, as planned, by Lewis Page on his return from injury, after an hour.

“Michail is a great player, it was nice to get the opportunity to play with him. It was good that he came down and wanted to play with the U21s.

“He’s got a lot of experience in the Championship, he’s strong and powerful, a pacey winger and he gave me a couple of really good balls.”

Brown continued to thank the number of fans who turned up to support the U21s on a wet Monday evening before looking ahead to the Hammers’ next game, away at Stoke City on Saturday 26 September.

“It’s always special to play at the Boleyn Ground, particularly in the last season here. Whenever we play here it gives us that extra motivation to go and do well.

“The fans that came certainly got right behind us and that helped us too. I’m not sure we would have found our second goal without them.

“Hopefully we’ll get our first win of the season away at Stoke on the weekend. If keep the positives tonight and play to our potential, I’m confident we can do that.”