Mark Robson was pleased with the way West Ham United U21s fought back to claim a point in their 1-1 draw away to Arsenal U21s.
The Irons ensured a share of the spoils at the LV Bet Stadium on Friday evening as Divin Mubama’s penalty on 82 minutes cancelled out Joel Ideho’s early, second-half strike in the London derby.
A tense encounter at Meadow Park saw limited clear-cut chances, although the Hammers will have felt they were the better team in the first half without making that domination truly count.
The hosts took advantage in the second period and lead coach Robson was disappointed with how his development team failed to take their good, first-half form into the second 45 minutes.
However, in the midst of a run which has seen the Hammers pull away from the relegation zone in Premier League 2 Division 1, the resilience and tenacity to take something from the game was a satisfying aspect of a battling encounter…
I’m glad to come away with something.
I was happy with the first half. It was quite a cagey game but I felt we were playing well and both teams tried to control the game, but I thought we had the better opportunities in that half.
But then we’re disappointed with the second half. We just didn’t start that half and we stop doing things that we had been doing. We needed to show the quality we have, but we didn’t do that. It wasn’t until the back end of that half that we started to find some rhythm.
I felt like Arsenal’s goal was coming.
It just looked like they were getting closer and closer to scoring, as they took control of the game. When it did, it didn’t surprise me, but I will say that our boys dug in and got their rewards. In the end, it was a really good point for us and it keeps our little run going.
One thing Arsenal have always produced is quick, flair players.
Their attacking line is always really good and it is always going to be difficult coming here. We defended for our lives at times and the boys were really strong. We had some good defensive moments, and Krisztian Hegyi has made a few good saves.
Divin has been really good and his goals have been a real bonus for us.
He’s a real goalscorer and he’s reaping the benefits of his good form. We’ve got another couple of young goalscorers coming through too in Callum Marshall and Gideon Kodua, so at this level we’re blessed up front at the moment, and long may that continue.
We got our equaliser but I think, perhaps in the final third, we let ourselves down a little bit.
We could have caused a few more problems but we didn’t. The top teams at our level are really clinical and Arsenal are one of those sides. We just didn’t quite do that in this game.
This was always going to be difficult, but at the same time, we came here full of confidence.
The second-half didn’t see us play the way we can, and we stopped doing the things we did in the first half. It was a game we could control, but we ended up not controlling it, and we nearly paid the price for it.
Arsenal started to dominate, and we had our backs to the wall, but we dug in and came back from a goal behind. It’s a good point and we haven’t played as well as we’d like to, but we’ve come away with something from the game.
