Mark Robson has hailed West Ham United’s defensive resolution and maturity in Friday’s 1-0 Premier League Cup win over Swansea City.
Andriy Yarmolenko had given the Hammers a late, first-half lead at Rush Green in the side’s final Group F game but a red card for the Ukrainian international early in the second period left Robson’s team a man short for over 40 minutes of football.
Despite going down to ten men, the developmental side rallied and held off the Swans, securing all three points against the south Wales side.
With a place in the round of 16 confirmed for the Hammers, Robson knows his team were under pressure from a talented Swansea team and is delighted with what he saw from his players.
I feel like we defended really well as a team. We had to dig in and work hard but we held on and that was a really pleasing aspect of the game.
Mark Robson
“It was a tough game,” the U23s Lead Coach told whufc.com. “We knew it was going to be a tough game against a decent team. Obviously the game changed when we got the man sent off, which was disappointing, but I thought the lads defended really well.
“I can think of one chance that Swansea had when we were down to ten men – a header in the middle of the goal – and apart from that, I feel like we defended really well as a team. We had to dig in and work hard but we held on and that was a really pleasing aspect of the game.
“We played against an U23s team that plays a lot like their Swansea first team and, when they had the extra man, it became quite difficult. Their rotation is very good, but I thought we were really solid and kept our shape. We always managed to get back in and worked hard for each other.
“We defended fantastically well from set-pieces and we were very solid. It was a different side of the game that I haven’t necessarily had to see from the boys, but it was pleasing to see.”
With the Hammers’ place in the knock-out stages confirmed before Friday’s match, Robson took the opportunity to give three Under-18s players starts in the U23s team.
Left-back Regan Clayton and midfielder Archie Woods came in for their respective first starts at this level while right-back Junior Robinson made just his second.
The U23s Lead Coach was pleased with how all three equipped themselves in the match.
Robson continued: “I thought all three came in and did really well. I thought Regan was very solid at left-back. He did himself really proud. The other two also had really decent games.
“Archie got booked so I took him off in the second half, and I wasn’t sure how bad Junior’s knock was when he had that nasty fall, which is why he came off. But I thought all three of them did really well.”
West Ham U23s headed into Friday’s match on the back of two consecutive defeats, with Robson calling for his team to show character and a winning mentality to get back to victorious ways.
With his team doing exactly that, Robson was delighted with the reaction from his players.
“In terms of standing up to a really tough game in tricky circumstances, the lads showed loads of character. It was really pleasing.
“We perhaps lacked a little bit of quality in the final third, and our final ball through just wasn’t quite there, which is something we know we’re really good at. I see it in training so we’ve just got to transfer that element back into games, and I’m sure we will.”
The Irons return to Premier League 2 action in a big way next weekend as a trip to table-topping Manchester City awaits the developmental Hammers.
West Ham sit second in the table on four points but have played a game fewer than next Sunday’s opponents, and Robson says the importance of the upcoming fixture is known to both him and his team.
He added: “It’s a top-of-the-table clash and it’s a game that, if we can win, it puts us in a really good position for the remainder of the season. But at the same time, Manchester City are probably looking at in the same way.
“It should be a really good game and no doubt they’ll have a really strong team out, so it will be a good test for our boys. We hope we can come out on top.”