West Ham United U18s’ suffered another disappointing result on Saturday with a 2-1 home loss to Swansea City.
A headed effort from a corner and a well-placed through ball and finish saw the Hammers go two goals down inside 13 minutes.
Rosaire Longelo got West Ham back into the contest midway through the first period with a long-range strike.
But despite being the better team in the second period the Hammers were unable to find the crucial equalising goal against the Swans, who also saw a penalty saved late in the game.
The loss leaves the U18s without a win this season, although captain Ben Wells was happy to see an improved performance from the side.
Wells said: “Mistakes let us down early on. After the first 20 minutes, we dominated the game. I thought the team did really well and worked hard.
“We started passing the ball around well and made it hard for them to make any opportunities. It was just the end product that let us down but it was a much better performance than our last game.
“We can take a good performance out of this game. Everyone put their hearts into it. We want the results but it’s also about development. We will learn from this.”
The away side took less than quarter of an hour to take a 2-0 lead at Little Heath with Brandon Cooper heading home on four minutes while Matthew Roberts beat the offside trap to net just nine minutes later.
Steve Potts’s side halved the deficit with an excellent strike from 20 yards by Longelo, which found the goal despite the Swansea goalkeeper getting a hand to it.
Korrey Henry was a threat up front with the No9’s power causing a number of issues for the south Wales side, while Connor Coventry also saw an effort saved.
It seemed Longelo’s finish spurred West Ham into life and the home side were the better team throughout the second period, controlling possession and the majority of the play.
Some lovely football saw Henry come agonisingly close to heading in West Ham’s second while Jeremy Ngakia saw a shot go over the bar.
Swansea had the chance to secure their win with a late penalty, but Rihards Matrevic comfortably saved the weak effort.
Ultimately, despite a strong showing. West Ham failed to get a second finish which allowed Swansea to leave Little Heath with the three points.
West Ham United: Matrevic; Johnson (Caiger 46’), Mings, Wells, Hannam; Watson (E Longelo ‘), Coventry, R Longelo, Bernardo, Ngakia (Diallo 83’); Henry
Goals: R Longelo 26’
Swansea City: Lang; Lewis, Cabango, B Cooper, Blake; Price (Williams 90+3’), De Boer, Jones-Thomas (Hazell 53’), O Cooper, Fox (Gudjohnsen 62’); Roberts
Goals: B Cooper 4’, Roberts 13’