- West Ham United U18s battled from behind to earn a 1-1 draw at home to Manchester City
- Jahmal Hector-Ingram bagged the Hammers' equaliser after Joe Powell had a penalty saved
- Assistant manager Mark Phillips was delighted with his side's performance
U18s assistant manager Mark Phillips was delighted with his side’s performance as they picked up a well-earned point at home to Manchester City.
The Hammers went behind in the first half when City’s Tom Dele-Bashiru fired past Tyler Forde but they almost responded on the stroke of half-time when Joe Powell’s penalty was expertly saved by Arijanet Muric.
The hosts upped their pressure on City in the second half and got their reward when Jahmal Hector-Ingram equalised with his 12th league goal of the season.
And despite both sides having chances to win the game in the final quarter, the match ended level with Phillips afterwards celebrating the point but also pondering what might have been.
“It was a very good performance. It’s culminated in three good performances because at Liverpool and Manchester United, we played well also,” said Phillips.
“Arguably we could have had nine points from our last three games. Performance wise I was very pleased today, especially with our second half.”
City went into the match on the back of being beaten in the FA Youth Cup final by Chelsea during the week but they still looked a threat going forward in the first half.
Luke Bolton had their only chance in the opening quarter, firing over from inside the penalty area before Hector-Ingram shot straight at Muric when he should have really scored.
The Hammers started to dominate proceedings midway through the first half but were hit against the run of play when Dele-Bashiru slotted past Forde.
West Ham had a great chance to draw themselves level on the stroke of half-time when Hector-Ingram was fouled in the box but Joe Powell’s penalty was brilliantly saved by Muric to keep the score at 1-0.
Muric was again the hero in the second half, thwarting Powell and Bernardo Rosa in quick succession but the Hammers found their deserved equaliser with 20 minutes to play.
Powell showed great awareness to slot a reverse pass in between the City defence and Hector-Ingram showed brilliant composure to slot past Muric.
Both sides had chances to nick the three points late on with City missing a great opportunity in the dying embers when Forde saved well once again.
It was a deserved point for the Hammers and they go into their final competitive match of the season against Arsenal full of confidence.
“We’ve got a week off from fixtures next week but we’ll go there in two weeks time full of confidence,” Phillips added.
“The last three games we’ve played, against top, top sides, we’ve done very well. It’ll be nice to go there and get something from the game.”
West Ham: Forde; Ngakia, Akinola, Wells, Hannam; Mingi, Henry, Powell, Rosa (Constantinou, 59), Hamilton; Hector-Ingram.
Subs not used: Dalipi, Todd, Adarkwa, E. Longelo.
Bookings: Rosa.
Goals: Hector-Ingram.