West Ham’s U21 side picked up a 2-1 victory away against Leeds on Monday. That win means the Hammers are now 7th place in the PL2 standings. Mark Robson’s side are in a great position having a game in hand on 8th and 9th place and two games in hand on Southampton above them in 6th place.

The evening started off very comfortable for the Hammers as they sailed into a 2-0 lead within the first half an hour of the match after goals from Kamarai Swyer and Sean Moore. A 2-0 lead always has the potential to be a precarious scoreline as West Ham found out shortly after the half time break.

Seven minutes into the second half, a goal from Cian Coleman brought Leeds back into the game and halved the deficit, setting up what could have been a tense remainder of the half for Mark Robson’s side. The young Hammers defence showed resilience and stood strong withstanding periods of intense pressure from their opponents to hold on to their lead and claim the three points.

Discussing his sides win with the Club’s official website, U21s lead coach Mark Robson said: “The only disappointment is that we didn’t put the game to bed when we had the opportunities. We created enough good moments but made the wrong decision at times. When we did make the right decisions, we scored two fantastic goals.”

Robson went on to add: “In the second half, we had to dig in. They put us under a lot of pressure by going more direct and playing longer balls. I felt our game management in the first half could have been better, but it’s something we’ll continue to work on. But credit to the boys, we saw the game out well in the end.”

West Ham’s U21s have a great opportunity now to have a strong end to their league season. The young Hammers have a number of winnable games coming up, and with at least a game in hand on the teams around them, they can focus on putting a good run of form together and continuing to climb the table with the aim of finishing the campaign among the league’s front runners.