West Ham United U18s continued their fantastic goalscoring run to come from behind and claim a thrilling 5-4 win away to Fulham
Callum Marshall gave the Irons the advantage with a close-ranged goal from a corner inside three minutes but the Cottagers stormed to a 3-1 lead, with Luc De Fougerolles levelling for Fulham before Aaron Loupalo scored twice.
Gideon Kodua’s one-on-one finish on the 30 minute mark gave the Hammers hope of a comeback, which the away side managed early in the second half as Lewis Orford tucked home before Marshall grabbed his second with a brilliant strike.
Kodua notched his second – and West Ham’s fifth – on 79 minutes before Fulham pulled one back from the penalty spot through Tom Olyott late on.
Despite the side finding free-flowing form in terms of goals scored, U18s coach Mark Phillips is looking for the team to make immediate improvements defensively.
“It was a very good game for the neutral,” Phillips told whufc.com. “I would describe it almost as a basketball game.
“We need to look at ourselves defensively and we know it has to be better. With our attacking ability, we’ve always got the chance of scoring goals, but we need to defend better as a team. We gave away a couple of cheap goals against Fulham which, to be fair to our players, they know and have said themselves after the game.”
The U18s headed into Saturday’s London derby with two wins from their opening two matches of the campaign, and it was the perfect start for the Hammers at Motspur Park.
An early corner for the visitors was taken by Oliver Scarles and Marshall was able to get clear of the Fulham defence, knocking home with his head from two yards.
Despite the Hammers’ exquisite start, Fulham got back into the game on 10 minutes when De Fougerolles netted, before Loupalo turned the match around for the home side just three minutes later, giving them the lead.
Loupalo would grab his second – and Fulham’s third – not long after, giving Kevin Keen’s Hammers a huge mountain to climb after just 24 minutes.
A goal before half-time would be crucial for the Irons and it would come thanks to Gideon Kodua. Dan Rigge slotted a brilliant pass through to the striker, who in turn netted a clinical finish to reduce the deficit and give a 3-2 score at the interval.
The U18s, buoyed by Kodua’s strike, flew out of the traps at the start of the second half and got their reward for a fast opening.
Orford levelled the game five minutes into the second period with another one-on-one finish and the match was turned on its head, back in West Ham’s favour, when Marshall grabbed his second with a thunderbolt of an effort on 55 minutes.
Kodua gave the Irons breathing room 11 minutes from time with his second, and the team’s fifth, although a late penalty for the home side – netted by Olyott – ensured a nervy close to proceedings in west London.
Despite further pressure from Fulham, West Ham were able to hold on for a third win out of three league games played.
Phillips, further reflecting on the team’s defensive efforts, continued: “Last year, we had a great season and defensively, we were a lot tighter at the back and a lot harder to break down.
“This year, we need to do more work on it. We’re scoring a lot of goals but that’s not going to get us wins in every single game.
“We work on our defence just as much as our attack in training and, from a defensive point of view, it was a poor day at the office. But we know we can go away and work on it.”
Despite some lessons from a defensive standpoint, the win takes West Ham United U18s to the top of the Premier League U18 South table, and Phillips believes the team can take heart from their efforts early on in the 2022/223 campaign.
He added: “We’ve had two really good performances this season, against Crystal Palace and Southampton, and I’d have liked this to have been an even better one. But we got the result.
“In the previous two games, we played excellently. If you look back on the U18s league table in the last few years, Palace, Southampton and Fulham have all been up there at the top. From a purely results standpoint, we’ve played those three and won against them, which can only bode well for us in the rest of the season.”
