- Mark Phillips felt West Ham United U18s should have made more of their possession against Blackburn
- The Hammers were beaten 2-1 at Little Heath
- They are back in action on Friday away to Liverpool
Assistant manager Mark Phillips felt West Ham United U18s didn’t make the most of their possession in their 2-1 defeat to Blackburn Rovers at Little Heath.
The Hammers knew a win would have taken them top of Merit Group A, but Callum Wright scored the winner in the second half after Jahmal Hector-Ingram had cancelled out Bradley Lynch’s opener.
Ben Johnson was shown a red card late on after two bookings, and Phillips was left ruing a missed opportunity after the match.
“I think we probably deserved a draw out of the game but they’ll probably think they deserved to win,” he admitted. “I thought we had lots of possession but we didn’t create that many chances.
“Our response to going behind was excellent and for the next 30/35 minutes we dominated the ball. We played some nice, intricate football but, if I’m honest, we didn’t create that many chances.
“We didn’t work their keeper that much in that spell and they had a little spell just after half-time when they could have gone two up. I thought we came out in the second half excellently and then we did create some chances.
“When we equalised, I thought we would go onto to win the game but Blackburn set themselves up well and scored a good goal on the counter. Even after we went behind again, we still had chances. But Blackburn were clinical.”
The Hammers were aiming for back-to-back wins for the first time since January but found themselves a goal down inside two minutes. Lynch broke the offside trap and coolly slotted past Tyler Forde.
The hosts almost responded though ten minutes later – Hector-Ingram latched onto a long ball from Conor Coventry and was brought down in the penalty area.
The Hammers frontman stepped up but his penalty was brilliantly saved by Ben Ashcroft who, in doing so, maintained his side’s advantage.
In the second half, the young Irons stepped up their search for an equaliser and were hugely unlucky when Anthony Scully’s free-kick was tipped over by Ashcroft.
Moments later, the hosts got their reward. Coventry and Hector-Ingram combined again and the latter did well to stay on his feet and fire past the keeper.
Blackburn regained the lead though ten minutes later when Callum Wright ran and finished well from long range.
The Hammers probed in the final stages but their pressure was slightly halted when Johnson was showed a second yellow card for simulation.
But the game ended in defeat for the U18s and they are back in action on Friday (7pm) when they visit Liverpool. You can keep up to date with the action at whufc.com and on our social channels.
West Ham: Forde; Eggleton, Akinola, Wells; Johnson, Henry (Ngakia, 46), Coventry, Longelo (Hannam, 61); Lewis (Hamilton, 84), Scully, Hector-Ingram.
Subs not used: Constantinou.
Goal: Hector-Ingram.
Yellow cards: Johnson, Coventry.
Red card: Johnson.