West Ham United U23s captain Moses Makasi has admitted his side found it tough to come to terms with Wycombe Wanderer’s physicality in the 2-0 defeat on Tuesday.
Goals in each half from Will De Havilland and Sido Jombati respectively saw the League Two side stop the Hammers from ending the Checkatrade Trophy group stages undefeated.
West Ham struggled to find a way into a difficult match against experienced opposition at Adams Park and Makasi confessed that the strength Wycombe possessed made the contest even trickier.
And the captain indicated that, while he and his team failed to cope in this game, the match served as a learning curve for future fixtures.
Wycombe were so physical and that made it a really difficult match for us...They did that well and we should have handled it better.
Moses Makasi
“Wycombe were so physical and that made it a really difficult match for us,” Makasi told whufc.com. “When they were putting the ball in the box they were being physical with us. They were looking to play by using set-pieces and the second balls. It was scrappy but that was the game they wanted to play, and we had to handle it.
“It was tough. They were putting in a lot of long balls, which we knew was one of their strong points. They did that well and we should have handled it better. Next time, we’ve got to do better.”
The loss to Wycombe means that West Ham finish second in the Checkatrade Trophy Southern Group C, conceding top spot to Swindon Town by just one goal.
That means that the Hammers will play Luton Town in the next round of the competition and, while Makasi is frustrated that his side didn’t best Wycombe, the midfielder is confident of a result against their next opponents.
Makasi points to wins over Swindon and Bristol Rovers as proof that Terry Westley’s side can beat league opposition – something they want to show again.
He added: “It was a bit of a disappointment not to win tonight. We beat Swindon Town in the first game and then also got the result against Bristol Rovers. We wanted to keep up the winning run but it is what it is now.
“We’ve got to go into the next game against Luton, learn from this game, and recover. We’re confident though. Luton are doing well but I can’t see why we can’t beat them.
“We’ve already beaten Swindon and Bristol Rovers this season and Luton are another challenge. The boys just need to work hard in training and we will go again.”