A strong performance on Saturday saw West Ham’s U21’s beat Sunderland 3-1 to reach the Premier League 2 play off quarter finals.

The Hammers took the lead quickly against Sunderland. Josh Ajala opened the scoring after just twenty seconds following a mistake from Sunderland’s goalkeeper. Sunderland equalised 28 minutes in thanks to Luke Bell who scored from close range after a corner kick. It would take till just after the hour mark for the young Hammers to regain the lead after Lewis Orford fired home from the edge of the box.

Sunderland’s afternoon was made more complicated when they went down to ten men, with Jack Whittaker being shown a red card for his foul on Hammers forward Josh Ajala. With the extra man advantage, West Ham pushed for a third goal. They got their reward when Ryan Battrum sealed the victory late on.

Lewis Orford was unlucky not to add a fourth after hitting the crossbar, but West Ham held on to claim a comfortable 3-1 win and secure their place in the quarter finals.

Giving his thoughts on his side’s performance, U21’s lead coach Mark Robson said to the clubs Official Website: “To be honest, I thought they were excellent in that first half and caused us a lot of problems. We were fortunate to go in at 1-1, and Fin Herrick had some important moments that kept us in it.”

Robson added: “We had a good chat at half time, regrouped, and came out much better. I thought second half we were the stronger team, looked the more likely to win it, and deservedly so.”

The U21’s lead coach felt it was also important to give praise to the younger players who have made the step up to the 21’s this season: “The young lads have been excellent all season, they’ve stepped up into the U21s, really held their own, and added a lot to the group. I’m really pleased for them.”