- West Ham United Under 18s take on Fulham away from home on Saturday
- Winger Anthony Scully believes the young Hammers are brimming with self-belief ahead of the game
- Scully also said he’s enjoying his change of position on the pitch
Anthony Scully is relishing the prospect of a clash with London rivals Fulham this weekend as the U18s aim to get back to winning ways.
The Hammers won their first two league matches against Reading and Tottenham Hotspur but have since been beaten by Southampton and were held to a draw by Leicester City.
Though they couldn’t achieve maximum points in their last outings, performances have still been strong according to Scully.
“Against Leicester we should have won and against Southampton we shouldn’t have lost,” the midfielder said. “Little lapses in concentration have cost us a couple of times.
“If you look at the stats [against Leicester], we dominated the majority of the match. Then a mistake and a few little cheap errors brought Leicester back into the game and it ended up 2-2.
“The way we played was very positive and we’re going to take that into the next game.”
After having a couple of seasons blighted by injury, the 17-year-old is enjoying a consistent run of games this year.
Having featured in all of the U18s’ matches so far, Scully has even been putting in extra training sessions to improve and refine parts of his game.
The teenager has also been revelling in a change of position, which has seen him move out to the left – an alteration from playing centrally over the past few seasons.
“I thought I did well out there in the last game. This season I’m playing in a new position because I usually play more central and I’m enjoying it,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to getting some goals and getting some assists like I have been. I’ve had to change the positions I pick up because they’re different when you play out wide, so I’ve had to learn a lot.
“I’ve had lots of help from the coaches here and my dad used to play as a winger so I’ve had help from him. I’m learning quickly and enjoying the position.”
Steve Potts’ team visit Fulham on Saturday and Scully is expecting he and his teammates to focus fully on their own performance.
The young Hammers could jump to second in the U18 Premier League South Division with a victory at the Fulham Training Ground (kick-off at 11am).
“We can’t wait for the game this weekend, but we look forward to every game. Every game is going to be important this year,” Scully continued. “Personally, my aim is to win the league so we’re going to need to get the win against Fulham.
“We’re focusing on our own game, if we play the way we know we can, we should have no problem.”