Divin Mubama continued his impressive form with a brace to see West Ham United U18s come from behind to beat Tottenham Hotspur 4-3 at Little Heath on Saturday.
Spurs raced into an early two-goal lead in east London before Lewis Orford halved the deficit from close range.
And although Tottenham’s two-goal advantage was then restored after half-time when Will Lankshear completed his hat-trick, it was the Hammers who would take the points following a sensational turnaround after the hour.
First, Ollie Scarles gave his side hope, before Mubama later scored twice in three minutes to leave Kevin Keen’s team 13 points clear at the top of the U18s Premier League South.
As expected, striker Mubama was delighted with the team’s performance – another impressive showing means the young Hammers have won their opening ten matches of the season.
“We are in a really good place right now,” Mubama told whufc.com. “The atmosphere in this group and around the whole Academy is fantastic right now and that really helps us as players. We are really together as a group, and we all get along really well.
“We managed to get the job done today which was fantastic. We have had some tough matches recently and we have had to come from behind a few times. We had to dig deep again to beat Tottenham, but we managed to do exactly that.”
Mubama has enjoyed an impressive start to the 2022/23 season, featuring regularly for Mark Robson’s U21 side and also making his first team debut as West Ham beat FCSB 3-0 in the UEFA Europa Conference League in November.
And the 18-year-old striker is keen to continue his form with the U18 side, with the Premier League 2 campaign pausing for the FIFA World Cup.
“The main thing for me is to be playing football. Whether I am playing with the U21s or whether I am playing with the U18s,” Mubama stated. “I have standards and I want to meet those standards every time I play.
“When we drop down from the U21s it’s our responsibility to push the standards in the squad. We have to add more quality to the squad, and we have to demonstrate that we can help the team.”
With players such as Mubama in form, West Ham U18s have enjoyed an outstanding start to the 2022/23 season.
The young Irons have had to show tremendous character on several occasions, coming from behind to win six of their ten league matches so far this term. Mubama suggested that the togetherness of the squad is key to such success.
He explained: “We were 2-0 down against Chelsea and we were two goals behind twice against Tottenham. It’s a big achievement to come back to win both matches.
“We have a great squad, and everyone is actually friends off the field. That makes us so much stronger when we are on the pitch.
“No matter what the score is, we will fight for each other. There is a real resilience in this group and that is a top attribute of this team.”
