West Ham’s U18 side endured a challenging afternoon at Little Heath after being beaten 5-0 by Tottenham Hotspur.

Despite the margin of defeat, the Hammers performance certainly didn’t reflect such a one sided scoreline.

Spurs threatened early in the first half, with Armend Muslika firing his effort on goal wide, whilst Miracle Adewole’s pace down the left hand side tested the Hammers backline. 

The visitors got their breakthrough when Muslika finished off a swift counter attack, before Oliver Boast struck twice in quick succession. His first came via a cutback from Adewole, he bagged his second thanks to some tidy play from Oscar Sandiford. West Ham had opportunities of their own before half time with both Andre Dike and Aaron Kamara going close.

After the half time break, Kamara’s switch into midfield nearly paid off when he slipped in Dike, only for Elijah Upson’s timely challenge to deny the forward. The Hammers tried to keep pressing, but visitors Spurs punished their errors late on, Muslika took full advantage of a loose pass from Lanre Awesu before Frankie Day made it five in added time.

Speaking to the club’s Official Website after the game, U18’s lead coach Lauris Coggin reflected on his side’s performance and the lessons they need to take forward into their coming fixtures.

“We’ve got a really open, honest, hard working group, and that’s been clear in all the games we’ve played this season so far.” said Coggin.

The U18 lead coach added: “The important thing for us as a collective is to take a step forward in maturity; recognising the context of games and understanding that ultimately, the quality in both boxes determines the results you get.”