Kamarai Swyer admitted that West Ham United U21s’ 3-2 home defeat to Arsenal was a tough one to take.
Swyer had given the Hammers the ideal start in Friday’s Premier League 2 contest at Rush Green Stadium, scoring a fantastic goal on 13 minutes.
However, the visitors hit back almost immediately, and Marquinhos’ brace saw the Irons fall behind before the interval. The North London side increased their lead to 3-1 not long after the break, before Mipo Odubeko gave the Hammers hope with 30 minutes remaining.
Despite a late fightback, Swyer suggested that his side were unable to match Arsenal’s quality during the match.
“Coming into this game, we knew it was going to be tough,” he told whufc.com. “Arsenal possess a lot of quality and they demonstrated that, particularly in the midfield. We were expecting it to be tough, but I don’t think we quite rose to the challenge at times.
“The second half was better, we just struggled at times in the first half, we couldn’t keep possession and there were a few errors. Arsenal showed their quality across the match, but we only showed glimpses.”
The winger scored a great goal in the opening quarter of an hour, racing onto Michael Forbes’ long pass, before robbing the Arsenal defender of possession, and finishing smartly.
Despite being pleased with the quality of his finish, Swyer suggested that it was disappointing, and game-changing, to concede immediately after.
“I’m happy to have scored and to have helped the team when we were under pressure,” he reflected. “Mark Robson told me to spin in behind when the ball went wide, and I did that at the next opportunity after he gave me that advice.
“Forbes played a ball over the top of their defence, and I was able to force a defensive error and finish to give us the lead.
“I think it definitely would have been a different game if we hadn’t conceded so quickly after taking the lead. When you go 1-0 up it is important to stay focused, but we didn’t do that. Our concentration dropped and we paid the price.”
Swyer enjoyed a positive pre-season with the U21 side, with plenty of game time and suggested that he has set himself a number of targets for the upcoming season.
The attacker indicated that attention has to immediately turn to next week, as the Hammers travel to Leicester with hopes of picking up their first points of the season in Premier League 2.
He added: “I was pleased with pre-season, I thought I did well. I was able to stay fit for most of it and get a lot of game time and sharpness.
“Going into this season I knew I wanted to score more goals, get more assists, and to get more games under my belt.
“We have Leicester up next and that’s always a tough game. I think that we need to spend the next week training hard, and we want to eradicate the mistakes that we made today. It is all about heading into that game with everyone up for it and ready to go.”
