- Kyle Knoyle appeared for West Ham United PL2 in their 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa
- The right-back has been on loan at Wigan Athletic all season but been injured for the majority of his time there
- He’s was delighted to get 90 minutes under his belt as he returns to Wigan next week
Kyle Knoyle was disappointed with West Ham United PL2’s 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa on Monday night, but delighted to get 90 minutes under his belt.
The right-back has been on loan at Wigan Athletic all season but has found game-time hard to come by, considering he injured his tricep in pre-season.
Latics boss Gary Caldwell was in attendance to see Knoyle and teammate Reece Burke, who’s also been on loan with the Lancashire side this season, as they continued their comeback from injuries.
Knoyle hopes he showed enough on Monday night to give himself a good run of games in the Sky Bet Championship, having played a full 90 minutes for the first time this season.
“I started off the season with an unfortunate injury. Spent the last 3 months in the gym just working hard and trying to get back fit. But hopefully, I can push on now and get some games under my belt for Wigan Athletic,” said Knoyle.
“The experience is something I need at my age right now. I’m 20 years old and I need to be in a first team environment to develop because I’ve been playing U23 football since I was 17 and I don’t think another year would benefit me.”
Terry Westley made five change in all from the side that was beaten 3-0 by Wycombe Wanderers in the Checkatrade Trophy, with Knoyle and Burke coming into the defence.
Ashley Fletcher made his first Premier League 2 start since the opening day win at Stoke City and there were starts for Raphael Spiegel and Domingos Quina.
The Hammers went behind midway through the first half after Callum O’Hare’s deep cross found Corey Blackett-Taylor at the back post who headed past Spiegel.
They doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time – Knoyle was penalised for shirt pulling in the area and Keinan Davis scored the penalty.
The Hammers had chances in the second half with Fletcher twice going close, but they couldn’t find a way back into the match.
We were defensively sloppy in the first half but we had the majority of possession and we should have finished off a lot of our chances,” added Knoyle. “Half-time we got a bit of a rollicking but the staff know we are better than what we showed.
“I haven’t been back at West Ham for about a year so it felt good to be back. It was great to be amongst all the lads and I did my best for the team.”