Sean Tarima was delighted with the attitude and commitment displayed by West Ham United U18s as they secured a hard fought 2-0 victory against Leicester City on Saturday afternoon.
The Hammers had to be at their best defensively during the first half as the visitors applied heavy pressure. After a difficult opening 45 minutes, though, the Irons found a breakthrough courtesy of George Earthy, before Favour Fawunmi’s late goal helped to secure an important victory for the Hammers.
Kevin Keen’s U18 side are now seven points clear at the top of the U18s Premier League South table, as a result of winning their opening seven matches.
“It was a really tough game for us,” Tarima told whufc.com. “It was a different looking line-up as we got some of the boys back from the U21s. We actually made a good start and we made a couple of chances early on but Leicester were better at the end of the first half.
“Going into the second half we knew we needed to dig deep and we put in a really big performance to win the game. The mentality of this team is really good and we are delighted with the win.”
Tarima has enjoyed a positive week, having made his U21s debut on Tuesday in a 3-0 victory Premier League International Cup victory over Feyenoord, and the centre-back is delighted with his progress since returning from a long term injury.
“It’s been a great week,” he smiled. “After a long time off the pitch I’m delighted to be back playing football and to make my U21s debut on Tuesday was really positive. I came on for the last ten minutes and I really enjoyed that experience.
“This game was also a real positive for me, it was my first 90 minutes since coming back from my injury. To win both games and to keep two clean sheets this week is brilliant. I’m over the moon.”
The young Hammers have now kept three consecutive clean sheets in the league and Tarima was keen to heap praise on the ability of his fellow defenders.
He continued: “We’ve got some really good defenders. We defend first, that’s our number one job. We are in the team to stop our opponents from scoring so it is really pleasing when we keep a clean sheet.
“I love defending. We know how important clean sheets are; if we keep our opponents out then there is a fantastic chance that we will win the match with the attacking players that we have.”
