West Ham United U18s’ 100 per cent record remains intact in Premier League U18 after their 1-0 win over Swansea City on Saturday.
Bernardo Rosa’s second half goal was enough to give a dominant Hammers side all three points in south Wales and see them stay at the top of the southern league table alongside fellow London outfits Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.
The visitors created numerous opportunities in their third fixture of the campaign but had to wait until the 76th minute to break the deadlock, when a Swansea clearance landed at the feet of Rosa who struck low into the bottom corner.
West Ham showed desire in defence throughout the clash, snuffing out any Swansea attacks that threatened the goal with skipper Ajibola Alese putting in a real captain’s performance.
The centre-back, who was this week called-up to England’s U18 squad, stood strong alongside U15 Jamal Baptiste, who was again impressive as was goalkeeper Joseph Anang.
Another positive was the introduction of U16 Kai Corbett, playing his first U18 match and putting in a strong performance in the half an hour he played having done well against Reading last weekend for the U17s.
To put in another dominant performance and also keep another clean sheet and eventually win the game is very pleasing
Terry Westley
There was also a debut for American youth international Peter Stroud, signed and granted international clearance to play in recent weeks having been spotted playing against an England youth side.
On the whole, it was another positive weekend for the Hammers and Academy Director Terry Westley was delighted.
He said: “To put in another dominant performance and also keep another clean sheet and eventually win the game is very pleasing.
“We had a number of chances but just couldn’t finish any of them off but in the end, the goal always looked likely for us.
“To see Kai get on for more than half an hour was great and him and Jamal were very impressive. Aji had a great game and really led as the captain.
“It was also good to have Sean Adarkwa back, someone who scored a lot of goals in pre-season and it’s onwards and upwards for him from now on.
“We were very pleased and now working with the team, you can see the confidence it gives them to start the season like this. With three wins, it’s a very bright start so hopefully it can continue.”
West Ham United: Anang, Ngakia, Baptiste (Okotcha 82), Alese, Greenidge, Adarkwa (Appiah-Forson 46), Rosa, Stroud, Parkes, Spyrides, Longelo (Corbett 53)
Subs not used: Jinadu, McGeachy