- Dev Squad defender Tunji Akinola was pleased with his side’s defensive showing against PEC Zwolle on Wednesday
- The centre-back, who was captain for the clash, said the squad took time to warm-up in the Netherlands
- After going 2-0 and 3-1 down, the young Hammers hit back to record a 3-3 draw
Terry Westley’s team fell behind early on against their Dutch opponents PEC Zwolle but fought back in the latter stages to pick up a deserved share of the spoils.
And Akinola – who skippered the youngsters – said the display was built upon an increasingly solid defensive line.
“Second half, we were much better defensively and everyone was on it,” he explained. “In the end, the 3-3 was deserved.
“First half, we started slow and the coaches realised that, I think. The warm-up was a bit slow. But second half, we got higher up, made it harder for them to play out and deserved the draw.
“It was definitely a tough test for us. We came here thinking we were going to play the first team, but it turned out to be a younger team. However, they still had a couple of players with ten or so players for the first team, so it was a tough test.”
The 17-year-old was involved in much of the Hammers’ good passing play, starting moves from the back, including the visitors’ excellent third.
He reiterated how important it is for the side to continue to play their own style of football going forward this season.
“The third goal, everyone must have touched the ball in that passage of play,” Akinola continued. “That’s the kind of thing we practice in training. If we can replicate that against Venlo and during the rest of the season, we’ll be happy.
“If we keep moving the ball quickly against Venlo [it gives us a chance]. Playing against men, you have to do that. If we do that and stay solid defensively, we can definitely get a good result against them.”