Tyron Akpata was delighted to score his first goal of the season in West Ham United U18s’ 6-0 victory against Norwich City on Saturday.
The Irons bounced back impressively after successive league defeats to comprehensively see off the Canaries, racing into a four-goal lead before half-time thanks to Callum Marshall, Favour Fawunmi, Lewis Orford and an own goal.
Kevin Keen’s side were hungry for more finishes after the interval and Liam Jones scored the Hammers’ fifth, before Akpata rounded off the scoring midway through the second half.
The Irons are now fifteen points clear at the summit of the U18s Premier League South table, after claiming their biggest victory of the season.
“We’re really pleased,” Akpata told whufc.com. “It was a really good game from our perspective and everyone played their part, including the subs. I have to mention the younger boys who came on, they were really good and they helped us a lot.
“Our first half was fantastic, we were electric and we played some really impressive stuff. It was the perfect way to start the match and we were in control from the early stages. The second half was a bit tougher in terms of controlling the game, but we’re really pleased with the result and the performance.”
The 16-year-old knew it was important for the U18s to return to winning ways after losses to Southampton and Chelsea in recent weeks, with Saturday's victory keeping the Hammers in control at the top of the division.
“It was vital for us to respond after a couple of losses. We have a big week ahead, especially with the Youth Cup and we wanted to have some momentum going into the matches coming up.
“We also play Norwich again in a couple of weeks so it’s a really quick turnaround. It was important to win and to play better than we have played in some of our more recent games. We’ve set a standard today and we need to meet that again in our upcoming matches, including when we face Norwich again.”
Having scored his first goal of the season, Akpata revealed he had been taking the time to work on his finishing in training, and relished opening his account for the campaign.
“I’m so happy to have scored today,” he contunued. “I’ve been working on it in training and I wanted to be ready for any chances that I got in matches. It’s a pleasure to score and to have helped the team.
“It was a really good team move. We switched the ball out from the left side to the right and Blaise Uwandji was very unselfish on the wing. He cut the ball back to me and I took a touch and placed the ball into the bottom right corner. I’m really pleased to have scored my first goal of the season.”
Up next for the young Hammers is an FA Youth Cup quarter-final away to Ipswich Town, with the Irons eager to continue their immense run in the competition.
Akpata noted that the win and performance against Norwich was the perfect way for the team to prepare for Wednesday's big fixture at Portman Road.
He added: “It’s a great result to take into the next week. I think a couple of the first year scholars saw today as an opportunity to prove ourselves ahead of the game on Wednesday. If there’s a couple of injuries or absentees then we want to push for a start.
“We want to step up and if we do get called into action then we’ll be ready. We’re prepared as a team, whether that’s the younger players or the older players. It’s important that we won today and we’ll now look ahead to the Youth Cup. We’re ready to go.”
