Jamal Baptiste believed that West Ham United U21s deserved better than suffering a 2-1 defeat to AS Monaco at the Chigwell Construction Stadium on Friday night.
Despite going into the contest knocking they were unable to qualify for the knockout stages of the Premier League International Cup, the young Hammers raced into an early lead courtesy of Dan Chesters’ first minute strike.
The visitors quickly responded and Malamine Efekele’s quickfire double turned the game on its head inside the opening quarter of an hour.
The Irons were unable to break down the Monaco defence during the second half and the visitors emerged with the three points, but Baptiste was pleased with the performance of the team despite the result.
“It’s obviously always disappointing when you lose,” he said at the final whistle. “We go into every match wanting to win but it wasn’t to be tonight. I was pleased to be back on the pitch tonight and I’m proud of myself and my teammates.
“We all worked hard and we showed a real togetherness at times. We pushed for an equaliser in the second half and I think that we were unfortunate to come away with nothing. It was a decent performance.”
The centre back made his first start for Mark Robson’s development team since August, following a long-term injury problem, so the 19-year-old was delighted to be back on the pitch after a difficult few months.
“It’s been a really difficult period for me, probably the toughest few months of my career so far," Baptiste admitted. "I love playing football and it has been incredibly tough to watch on from the sidelines. It’s been disappointing from my point of view because I want to help the team and I want to prove myself.
“The boys have been doing well recently and I am pleased to be back in the team. My aim now is to stay in the side and to solidify my place again. Tonight was my first match back so now I want to keep building and improving.”
Baptiste suggested that the team displayed a positive mindset after a whirlwind start to the match.
“It was great to score so early, we were over the moon and it was the perfect start on my return to the team!" he added. "It was a real confidence booster but they responded quickly and unfortunately we fell behind.
“We have definitely been working on our mentality and how we respond after conceding a goal. We did really well last week against Chelsea when we conceded and on that occasion we held on to an important victory. We lost tonight but we kept it tight and played some good football after falling behind.
“There’s a lot to work on but the team did well, especially the younger boys who came in. I was pleased with my performance too so it’s all about looking ahead to next week now when we play Fulham in the league.”
