West Ham’s quest to win back-to-back FA Youth Cups comes to an end but Kevin Keen is “proud” of his side’s performance.

In a game of fine margins, West Ham’s U18s just fell short to Manchester City’s U18s in the fourth round of the FA Youth Cup.

Both sides had their chances to win, but the game went to extra time after the first 90 ended 0-0. Ezra Mayers was unlucky to give a penalty away which Jacob Wright tucked away for City, with Justin Oboavwoduo making it 2-0 in extra time.

Unfortunately, the loss marked the end of their hunt for FA Youth Cup glory. They may not have matched last year’s cup-winning campaign but head coach Kevin Keen believes there are plenty of positives to take from the game.

“I am so proud of our performance tonight. It should make everybody connected to the Academy proud,” he declared to the official site. “I thought we were strong tonight. Manchester City are a really good team, but I thought we showed a lot of intelligence in defence with our performance.”

First team manager David Moyes was there to witness the game, and Keen believes that the performance from the youngsters will give the Scotsman something to think about.  

“This Club is built around getting young players through to the first team and getting chances,” he explained. 

“Hopefully, the Gaffer might have seen a few performances that he likes. I think the future is really promising. The boys have been great all season. There is a really good feel and spirit about the squad. Whatever happens, they will keep working their socks off for West Ham and they will be driven by me to do that.”

The game may have ended in disappointment, but it is clear to see why there is so much hype around the academy prospects at the minute. So many of the players throughout the Academy of Football have the potential to play at an extremely high level, that is something not many clubs can honestly say.

It is an exciting time to be a West Ham fan, the first team and the youth teams are doing exceptionally well this season. The future of East London looks bright indeed.