West Ham United U18s 1-1 Birmingham City U18s
U18 Premier League South, Little Heath Training Ground, Saturday 23 August 2025, 12.15pm BST
West Ham United U18s were denied a first victory of the 2025/26 U18 Premier League South season after visiting Birmingham City struck an 88th-minute equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Little Heath Training Ground.
It looked like Lewis Beckford’s goal after just three minutes would be enough to see off the newly-promoted Blues, but Kian McCusker snuck in behind late on to ensure it finished honours even on Saturday afternoon.
Beckford, who was impressive throughout, took his goal well, pouncing on an error in the away side’s defence before rounding Szymon Terenowicz to tap home.
And Lauris Coggin’s side were dominant in the contest, hitting the woodwork twice in the second half, with goalkeeper Lanre Awesu largely untested in east London.
However, he was called into action just six minutes after Beckford’s goal when the visitors were awarded a spot-kick after Tobechwuku Ugorji was hauled down in the box. The No7 shouldered responsibility from 12 yards, but his penalty was well saved by Awesu, who dived low to his right.
After their 8-0 defeat to Crystal Palace last week, Birmingham would have been fearing the worst after the Hammers’ early opener, but - alongside the penalty - they responded brightly with a speculative volley from Riquelme Thompson-Jones that flew over the bar.
The Irons had to be alert again when Ugorji broke in behind and produced a cut-back that almost made its way to Cobi Maddox, but skipper Callum Leacock was on hand to snuff out the danger.
A succession of corners helped the home side regain their momentum and Andre Dike came close to doubling our advantage with an instinctive effort that deflected narrowly wide. Then just before the half-hour mark, Joe Scanlon’s wicked delivery from a right-wing free-kick was headed away from under the crossbar.
As the first half drew to a close, Dike and Beckford combined nicely to work an opening which resulted in a Birmingham defender diverting the ball onto the upright at the near post.
The Hammers started the second half brightly, piling on the pressure down the left side in particular through neat link-up play between Scanlon and Jephthah Medine. The latter darted into the box before teeing up Jonathan Unwin, whose low effort trickled just past the post.
Medine caused Birmingham more problems as the game approached the hour mark, this time picking out Joel Kerr. While the striker could only get a boot on the ball, his touch at full stretch inadvertently created a shooting chance for Dike, but his curling, left-foot effort was well blocked.
Coggin's side kept applying the pressure and were incredibly unfortunate not to net a second with 20 minutes to go. After a mazy run from Scanlon, in which he displayed brilliant trickery, the No3 dug out a pinpoint cross for substitute Majid Balogun, but his header crashed against the post.
Balogun couldn’t believe his luck just eight minutes later, as his acute cross from just inside the penalty area came back off the crossbar, before he got a shot away while in a tussle with a Blues defender that Terenowicz held.
And unfortunately for the Hammers, in a rare Birmingham attack in the second half, they shipped a late goal as McCusker latched onto goalkeeper Terenowicz’s long ball from the back before taking it round Awesu and slotting into an empty net.
West Ham United U18s: Awesu, Perkins, Scanlon, Leacock ©, Jonyla, Nwosu (Peychev 59), Dike, Unwin, Kerr (Chigwada 69), Beckford, Medine (Balogun 69)
Subs not used: Goodger (GK), Montague
Goal: Beckford 3
Birmingham City U18s: Terenowicz, Thompson-Jones, Biol, Campbell, Ranson, Martin-Moore ©, Ugorji, Maddox, Nunes-Wickham (Degtiarev 66), McCusker, Flavell (Rea 76)
Subs not used: Brannigan, Watson, Jones
Goal: McCusker 88
Booked: McCusker
Coggin: We were completely dominant from the first minute
Lead Coach Lauris Coggin hailed his side’s dominance following their 1-1 draw to Birmingham City on Saturday, and was pleased with his Hammers' overall performance at Little Heath Training Ground.
The hosts flew out of the traps and got themselves in front after just three minutes when Lewis Beckford took full advantage of a mistake in the Birmingham backline, and they continued to push for a second following Lanre Awesu’s penalty save from Tobechukwu Ugorji.
The best opportunities for those in Claret and Blue fell to substitute Majid Balogun, who struck the woodwork twice with a header and a looping cross, whilst winger Jephthah Medine caused the newly-promoted visitors plenty of problems down the left-hand side.
But Birmingham hung on as the east Londonders pushed for a second, and duly conjured up a late suckerpunch through Kian McCusker.
Coggin was pleased with his team’s control of the contest, particularly in the second period, as they limited Birmingham to few sights at goal.
“I thought we were completely dominant from the first minute,” he said.
“The important thing, stepping into U18s for our players, is understanding that scoring goals and stopping goals is everything. Our effort has to go into that. We have to show a little bit more quality, a little bit more guile, and the naivety at the end has cost us three points.
“My message to the players afterwards was to continue to push standards, meet our values every day, and push each other to improve our quality. That's the work that goes in from the staff that we have.
“The players were fantastic through pre-season, so I'm really pleased with the overall display, but the end result hurts.
“I don't think in the second half Birmingham had a shot at our goal, which is a testament to the whole team. We've got a bigger squad this year. We need everyone who steps onto the pitch to give their all, and show their quality and their character as well.
“There'll be opportunities for everyone in the group to show who they are. But it was a really good display up until the last minute.”
