West Ham United U21s’ Vertu Trophy round-of-32 tie at Colchester United has been confirmed for Tuesday 9 December, with kick-off set for 7.45pm at the JobServe Community Stadium.
Our young Hammers entered the draw for the knockout stages as the only development side still standing in the tournament.
In fact, it is the fourth time our development side have reached the knockout stages of the EFL Trophy. Only Arsenal and Chelsea boast a better record, with five knockout-stage appearances each. Alongside our young Hammers with the second-best record with four are Leicester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Our U21s previously reached the round of 32 in 2017/18 and 2020/21. Meanwhile, our best run in the competition came in 2023/24, when a group mainly comprised of 2023 FA Youth Cup winners were defeated in the round of 16 by eventual finalists Wycombe Wanderers.
This season, our U21s began their Vertu Trophy campaign by emphatically beating MK Dons 5-1 in Southern Group D in September. Despite taking the lead in the second game at Reading, the young Hammers fell to a 3-1 defeat after we were reduced to ten men when centre-back Ezra Mayers was shown a straight red card just a minute after the restart. That took our hopes of qualification to the final game at League Two high-flyers Swindon Town, in a winner-goes-through game late last month. Goals from Josh Ajala, George Earthy and Josh Landers secured a 3-2 win, second place and a spot in the next round.
Our development side had previously been scheduled to play Aldershot Town in the National League Cup on Tuesday 9 December. As a result of this Vertu Trophy tie, the Aldershot fixture has subsequently been moved. Further details about that rearranged game will be announced in due course.
