Joe Powell is thrilled to have scored his first goal of the season in West Ham United U23s’ 4-2 victory over Manchester United.
A hat-trick from Toni Martinez and Powell’s finish secured an excellent victory for Terry Westley’s side on Sunday at the London Stadium in front of 1,483 supporters.
The 18-year-old expressed his delight at finding the net during the match and also praised Edimilson Fernandes for his role in the build-up to his finish.
“It was great to score,” Powell told whufc.com: “It was an amazing feeling. I’m proud of the composed finish.
“I thought Edi had a great game. His run and pass for me for the goal topped his performance off.”
It was great to score. It was an amazing feeling. I'm proud of the composed finish.
Joe Powell
The attacker also hailed Martinez’s goalscoring exploits, with the Spaniard finding the net three times to become the first player to score a hat-trick at the London Stadium.
He added: “It was also awesome to be a part of Toni’s first goal, which was the equaliser. He said to me before the game that he had spoken to one of his cousins and said: ‘I’m definitely going to get a hat-trick today’.
“He’s always in the right place at the right time, and he’s a natural goal-scorer. He has scored the first hat-trick at the London Stadium and that’s incredible.”
The first half saw Manchester United twice take the lead, but the Hammers were level on the stroke of half-time thanks to Martinez.
Powell revealed that he spoke in the dressing room during the interval, calling on the team to add more spark in a bid to find a win, with the atmosphere around the team now incredible having secured the victory.
Powell said: “I said in the changing room at half-time that we had to turn it on, because we’d conceded the two goals and it can be hard to win from that position. But coming away with a 4-2 win has created a great buzz around the dressing room.
“Going into every game we all have the same mentality. We always want to win, whether we’re playing away, at Dagenham, or at the London Stadium. We went into the game knowing how good Manchester United are so to beat them 4-2 is a massive achievement.”