Mark Robson believes West Ham United U21s’ 3-3 draw with Crystal Palace serves as a timely reminder of the importance of focus, concentration and game management for his players.
The development side looked in full control during Monday’s Premier League 2 match and had stormed into a 2-1 lead at half-time thanks to Kamarai Swyer and Luizao, both netting from excellent set pieces.
Palace had also been reduced to ten men in the first half and the Hammers were flying just minutes into the second, as Armstrong Okoflex netted coolly for the away team’s third.
However, the Eagles fought back and struck again. Victor Akinwale tapped home from close range, before Jack Wells-Morrison’s penalty on 75 minutes meant the shares were spoiled.
For lead coach Robson, taking a point from the third-placed team in Division 1 was no bad thing, but there is a sense of frustration that more did not come from a seemingly dominant West Ham performance for much of the game…
We knew it was going to be a tough game against Crystal Palace.
I thought the boys started the game really well. We looked confident and we took the lead through two great set-pieces, which is something we have been working on in training. It was two great deliveries from Regan Clayton and Freddie Potts and two good finishes.
The set plays have been something we’ve not been too great from in terms of goalscoring this season. Those numbers are low for us but we had a real focus in the last week or so around our deliveries, and it paid off for us today in those two really good set pieces.
We deserved to go in the lead and I felt like we were completely in control. We were winning our duels and moving the ball well. We were doing it well and causing them enough problems.
We made a mistake for their first goal and it’s something we need to learn from.
But it was an avoidable goal. I was pleased we came out in the second half and got the third, and we looked comfortable. But then the game changed and we didn’t control the match.
At a time when one or two older players needed to step up and lead the team, I don’t think we got that from them, which allowed Palace to get back into the game. We’ve ended up shooting ourselves in the foot and it’s two points lost for us.
I just feel that, once the game went 3-1, we took our foot off the gas and just didn’t do the things we had been doing well.
They were down to ten men and that’s a big disappointment for me from this game. It's a big lesson in focus and concentration.
We’ve got three games left now and we need to make sure we are ready for those games.
We need to stay focused and prepared to do our jobs, and we need to be together as a team. We need to organise each other and help each other.
We’re preparing for Liverpool on Saturday. It’s another difficult away game which we need to be ready for. We have some big games coming up to end the season that we need to be at our best in.
