Pride was the overriding emotion for Finlay Herrick as West Ham United U18s lifted the U18s Premier League South trophy on Saturday, after a 3-2 victory against Fulham.
Five days after FA Youth Cup glory, the young Hammers were back in action at the Rush Green stadium and impressively secured their 19th league win of the 22-match season.
Aaron Loupalo-Bi gave the visitors the lead after eleven minutes, but Callum Marshall's brace saw the Hammers take the lead before there were 30 minutes on the clock.
The Cottagers equalised after the break through Chibuzo Nwoko but Favour Fawunmi’s late strike was enough to claim all three points for the Irons, and Herrick was delighted to finish the league campaign in style.
“We’re really pleased,” Herrick told whufc.com. “We had a great start to the season so to finish it off like this is an amazing feeling for everyone.
“This game was like the story of our whole season. We conceded the first goal and unfortunately that is something that has happened a few times, but we bounced back.”
Despite falling behind in the opening stages, Herrick suggested that there was always a belief that the team could come back to win the match.
“Falling behind isn’t something that we want, but it kind of works for us. We are mentally strong and it is something that we are used to. We managed the come back again to win the game and the team deserved it.
“When the first goal went in it was obviously disappointing, but it is a position that we had been in before. We believe in our abilities and the way that we play and we knew that we could come back. We had a chat at half-time to make sure that we played better in the second half, and we managed to do that.”
The young Hammers have already secured their status as regional and FA Youth Cup champions, but one more final awaits.
Kevin Keen’s Irons travel to the Etihad Stadium on May 10 to face Manchester City in the national final and Herrick is hungry for more success.
He continued: “It would be nice to win that third trophy. If we go into that match with a fully fit squad then I think that we will have a really good chance.
“We started the season really well and we will look to finish in the same way. It has been a great season so far and everyone in this club deserves it.”
