Mark Robson says his West Ham United U21s are looking to make up for missed opportunities when they face Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The Hammers welcome Wolves to Rush Green Stadium in Premier League 2 action on Monday, with the home side on the hunt for a first league win of the season.
A frantic October schedule saw many impressive performances from the development side, particularly in the Papa Johns Trophy, but only one win across all competitions to show for their efforts.
Robson believes his team’s showing merited a number of victories but says the team now need to focus on picking up a big three points on Monday.
“October was really tough,” the lead coach told whufc.com. “We played, recovered, then had games again. It’s been a tough run for the boys but, I have to say, it was a massive learning curve for everyone in the squad. Many of the boys were not used to that schedule.
“At this level, it’s usually a week between games, so to play Saturday-Tuesday every week for the last month has been a real challenge for the boys from a physical and a technical standpoint.
“There have been different types of games and I think, in terms of that side of things, we’ve come out of pretty well. We’ve had a couple of good wins in the Papa Johns Trophy and put in a couple of great performances too. In terms of the quality of the games we’ve had, it’s been a really good experience for the young lads.
“It’s been a hard month and results, in terms of wins, have been disappointing for us, but I actually think we’ve done well in terms of our performances. I’ve said to the boys we could have won at least four of them. We obviously haven’t, and we need to look to put that right, starting with Wolves.”
A busy few weeks has been followed by nine games without a match for the U21s, although a number were involved in the first team’s UEFA Europa Conference League trip to FCSB on Thursday.
Robson is hoping the chance to catch their collective breath will allow for a good performance against Wolves.
“We’ve had a bit of time to look at Wolves and see what they’re like, but we’ve also taken the chance to look at ourselves and try to right a few wrongs. We’ve had a few days to really prepare for the game and I’m challenging the boys to go out and get that first league win of the season.
“That’s what we want to see from them, and that’s their challenge now. We need to win a game to get our collective confidence up."
