Terry Westley praised his West Ham United U21 side after they were 3-2 winners over Swindon Town on Tuesday night in the Checkatrade Trophy and said his youngsters fully deserved the victory.
The Hammers were twice pegged back on the night after Martin Samuelsen and Moses Makasi goals were cancelled out by the hosts.
But Dan Kemp scored an unanswered third to round off the goals at the County Ground and see West Ham pick up their first ever three points in the competition.
Sead Haksabanovic impressed on his Hammers debut and there were a number of other attacking youngsters whose performances pleased Academy Director Westley.
He said: “To come here against a full strength side of Swindon and to get our first ever win in this competition is a great boost for us. I have to say, I think we dominated the game. We were the team creating most of the chances.
“Sead was dangerous, [Nathan] Holland was a real threat, [Toni] Martinez’s work and goal threat was very good and Samuelsen is starting to get back to something we know he can do; our attacking players were great.
I think we dominated the game. We were the team creating most of the chances. To come here against a full strength side of Swindon and to get our first ever win in this competition is a great boost
Terry Westley
“Moses and Domingos [Quina] behind that, that section of a team was really effective tonight and we made numerous chances to stretch the lead even further than is was.
“Haksabanovic should be very pleased with his debut. He cut inside once and hit a great shot off the top of the crossbar, and that side of the pitch and the front players were brilliant.
“I’m really looking forward to working with Sead and trying to help him. He didn’t know all of our players – he’s trained once with us – but he was a real threat today.”
The east Londoners have already bettered their involvement last year in the competition having not won a tie in 2016/17, and Westley is confident the experience of facing senior Football League sides this year will be crucial for the development of his squad.
“When you play in the Premier League, it’s a possession based game and you need to keep the ball and if you lose it, the opposition will hurt you,” he explained.
“That wasn’t the case tonight; they were direct and we had to deal with long balls and those second balls and then try and establish our own game.
“Swindon were dangerous from corners and set-pieces with their physical presence, but in the end I think we came out on top and deserved the victory.”