West Ham United U23s ran out 2-1 winners on Tuesday afternoon against Reading U23s at the Reading training ground.
The pre-season friendly was played behind closed doors with Nathan Holland and Anthony Scully scoring the Hammers goals.
Manager Dmitri Halajko praised a "good all round performance" from his side and this was typified by the performance of central midfielder Alfie Lewis.
The 19-year-old’s creativeness and desire to win back possession stood out on Tuesday and Lewis will be hoping to continue that as he heads into the start of the Premier League 2 season next week.
“I think just to go out every game and give it my all” he said. “I want to have a good season and really keep the intensity high and keep my quality on the ball.”
The U23s triumphed in testing conditions and Reading provided a stern test for the academy side.
“It was a tough challenge I think, a very different opponent to what we have played so far in pre-season and I thought that they moved the ball quite well.
I thought we created many chances today and we got in the box and really worked on the things that we wanted too so we were really pleased.”
Tactically the game was played very differently to how Lewis and the rest of the U23s had played earlier in pre-season against senior opposition.
“Just the styles of play are massively different, Reading look to move the ball a bit quicker whereas Braintree and Dagenham play more direct so it’s important that we understand went to switch it up and press and when to stand off.”
The Royals will face West Ham at least twice more during the season and Lewis insisted it was important to get the result on Tuesday.
“It was good to get the win and it’s something we now know that we can do again, we know that it will be the same in the league.”
The final game of West Ham U23s pre-season takes place on Friday afternoon in Belgium against RSC Anderlecht.
“It’s a big game and a different challenge for us.” Lewis said. “Obviously it’s a foreign opponent so we look forward to what they bring and hope to continue our unbeaten pre-season.”
The U23s kick-off their Premier League 2 Division 2 campaign against Fulham on August 9 at the Chigwell Construction Stadium in Dagenham.