Kamarai Swyer has praised West Ham United U21s’ togetherness and hard work in Tuesday’s 1-0 win away to Walsall.
The midfielder’s clever finish on 57 minutes was the difference between the development side and the EFL League Two Team to give the Hammers three points in their Papa Johns Trophy group stage opener.
The young Irons put in a terrific performance at the Poundland Bescot Stadium and Swyer was proud of the effort shown by the entire side.
“Everyone is really happy,” he told whufc.com. “It’s a been a tough start to the season in the league. We’ve had some good performances but it hasn’t been good enough to get a win. But, in this game, we all had good games and we put in a good performance together. We deserved this win.
“Coming into this game, we knew we were coming up against a physical league team and it would be tough for us. The boys worked hard against it and, to be fair, we’ve come out on top.”
Sywer’s finish was his second goal of the season so far and the Academy prospect was happy to strike again, revealing he had been working heavily on his finishing.
“I’m proud of the goal. I’ve latched onto Divin’s flick and, when I’ve got into the box, I’ve just got my head down and tried to finish.
“My finishing is something that Robbo and I have been talking about, and I’ve been working on it after training as well. I’m glad to score another one.”
With a clean-sheet secured as well, Swyer is optimistic the side can take their highly positive showing into this weekend’s Premier League 2 match away to Manchester City.
He added: “It was a big clean-sheet too. There was a lot of time left to play after our goal. All the team had to come together, remain solid, and we were able to do that.
“We just need to take how we played as a team, particularly in the second half, into more games. We defended well and played for each other, and that will serve us well in coming games in the league.”
