West Ham United Under-18s hit Swansea U18s for eight as forwards Veron Parkes scored a hat-trick and new signing Mipo Odubeko netted on his debut.
Travelling to Wales to continue their U18 Premier League South campaign, Kevin Keen’s side were seeking their first win in three league games at the Landore Training Centre on Saturday morning.
The junior Irons got off to the best possible start when Swansea failed to clear a high ball from Odubeko and Parkes picked it up on the edge of the area, rifling a low shot into the bottom left hand corner after just eight minutes.
Odubeko then grabbed his maiden Hammers goal on his first appearance for the Club two minutes later, holding off a challenge before stroking home Lennon Peake’s through-ball, before the home side pulled one back through William Rickard on 27 minutes.
The Hammers regained their two-goal advantage just eight minutes later, a powerful Odubeko run again causing problems before the debutant lobbed the ball to top-scorer Sebastian Nebyla, who finished into an empty net.
That was Odubeko’s last contribution to the action as the new signing, making his first competitive appearance in six months, was replaced by Christian Veliky at half-time.
Swansea pulled themselves back into it shortly after the interval, Ali Al-Hamadi pouncing on 57 minutes to reduce the deficit once more, before enjoying an excellent opportunity to level the scores – only for Hammers keeper Serine Sanneh to display impressive reflexes to deny the home side.
This would prove a turning point in the game as Veliky squared for Parkes’ composed second to stretch the advantage again with 63 minutes played, before the Slovakian playmaker made it 5-2 ten minutes later, sprinting onto Peake’s precision pass at the end of an impressive counter-attacking move to slot home from close range.
As the home side’s defensive shape began to falter, West Ham made the occasion into a rout, Parkes completing his hat-trick with seven minutes to go when he sidefooted Greenidge’s low cross into the net, before pinball inside the Swans’ area allowed Veliky to make it 7-2 on 90 minutes.
Just a minute later, and winger Gael Kileba completed the scoring, grabbing his first goal of the season when he slotted home a loose ball inside the Swans area.
“All those times we’ve missed chances in the last six weeks came to the fore in this game – and take a look,” assistant coach Mark Phillips said afterwards.
“Parkes was brilliant – all three of his goals were three clinical finishes, none of them were tap-ins – and Mipo led the line really well.
“Although our opponents lost their discipline, we have to be pleased. We played well, and it was a good all-round team performance.”
The resounding victory helps solidify West Ham U18s’ position in fourth in the U18 Premier League South, with a trip to Leicester City next weekend to follow.
West Ham United U18s: Sanneh; Greenidge, Nsumbu, Thomas, Okotcha (Perkins 67), Parkes, Peake, Woods (Kileba 72), Giddings, Nebyla, Odubeko (Veliky 45)
Subs: Roach
Goals: Parkes 8, 63, 83; Odubeko 10; Nebyla 35; Veliky 74, 90; Kileba 90+1
Booked: Okotcha