West Ham United U18s 4-2 Tottenham Hotspur U18s
U18 Premier League South, Little Heath Training Ground, Saturday 19 October 2024, 11am BST
West Ham United U18s picked up their first league win of the campaign with a commanding 4-2 victory over Tottenham Hotspur at Little Heath.
Although the visitors raced into an early lead, the young Hammers responded with four goals of their own before the interval. Airidas Golambeckis, Elisha Sowunmi and were Andre Dike all on the scoresheet to ensure the Hammers went into half-time with a healthy lead.
Despite going down to ten men late in the second half after Emeka Adiele received a second yellow card, West Ham saw out the game relatively untroubled to claim all three points on derby day.
Tottenham started the brighter of the two sides, enjoying the lion’s share of possession early on as they probed for openings in the West Ham defence. Momentum soon swung in West Ham’s favour, with Dike and Chinaza Nwosu at the heart of some fluid attacking play.
However, it was Spurs who broke the deadlock in the eleventh minute. A quick goal kick caught West Ham off guard, and Luca Williams-Barnett unleashed an audacious strike from the halfway line that sailed over the goalkeeper and into the net to give the visitors the lead.
West Ham’s response was swift and emphatic. Just four minutes later, Adiele whipped in a sublime cross from the left which was headed home by Golambeckis, netting his fourth goal of the season to level the score at 1-1.
The young Hammers continued to cause problems for the Spurs defence, and Dike, after beating three defenders, nearly set up Josh Ajala for a second, who was unable to convert.
Spurs were increasingly forced into a more direct style of play as West Ham’s quick counters proved increasingly dangerous. West Ham’s pressure paid off again in the 30th minute. Dike, who had been a constant threat, leapt high to meet a cross and powerfully headed home to make it 2-1.
Ajala came close again shortly after but was denied by another fine save from Samual Archer, before the Hammers extended their lead in the 38th minute through Sowunmi who reacted first to a rebound following another stop from Archer.
The goals kept coming as the Hammers added a fourth just two minutes later. Dike netted his second of the day, capping off a sensational first half performance for the forward, who earned his second call-up to the Young Lions’ U17s squad in as many months in October. The England age-group international nearly completed his hat-trick moments later, but his close-range effort was bravely blocked by the Spurs goalkeeper.