A second half strike from Riley Hargan saw ten-man West Ham United under-18 inflict Fulham’s first league defeat since November last night at Motspur Park.
The Hammers fully merited their three points having largely controlled the contest through possession-based football and defending diligently after Emeka Adiele had been dismissed late in the game. Hargan’s deflected drive just before the hour mark proved the only goal of the game – but Lauris Coggin’s side might easily have added to their advantage.
The visitors began brightly and might have gone ahead in the ninth minute when a Hargan corner was guided goalwards by Rayan Oyebade but the centre back’s header was scrambled off the line. Oyebade then started a flowing move that almost broke the deadlock a couple of minutes later. Josh Ajala was taken out in the middle of the park but the referee played a smart advantage, allowing Hargan to drive forward and pick out Jethro Medine on right flank. The winger’s low cross found Ajala, whose powerful strike only narrowly failed to nestle in the top corner.
Oyebade then produced a fine piece of defending to prevent Tom Wingate from latching onto a through ball, but the visitors continued to threaten Dino Kaiser’s goal. Ajala fired fractionally wide of the far post after excellent link up play between the influential Hargan and striker Josh Landers. The lively Ajala then saw a shot deflected wide off Logan Cooke after the striker had reached a floated pass from Preston Fearon.
The second half started in cagier fashion but Hargan grabbed the decisive goal for the Hammers in the 59th minute. A mistake at the back saw Adiele win possession by the corner flag and his cross came to Hargan at the far post. The central midfielder took advantage of Fulham’s failure to clear their lines and found the net via a deflection off the desperately unfortunate Cooke, who had threw himself in the way of the shot.
The visitors might gone on to win more convincing. Adiele tested the reflexes of Kaiser from a tight angle before Elisha Sowunmi crashed a fine free-kick against the crossbar from just outside the box. Fulham’s riposte was belated but almost effective with Wingate producing an acrobatic volley to meet a deep cross from Ruban Khan, only for visiting goalkeeper Finn Hooper to terrifically touch the effort onto the far post.
Hooper then made a much more conventional stop to deny Macaulay Zepa, but West Ham were able to weather the late sending off of Adiele for dissent to claim all three points.
FULHAM UNDER 18s (4-2-3-1): Kaiser; Walters, Picotto, Cooke, Slade; Schutter (Sutton-Bangura 64), Chingwaro; Zepa, Khan, Bartra (Cavell 72); Wingate. Subs (not used): Mayer, Hall, Degale
WEST HAM UNITED U18s (3-4-1-2):Â Hooper; Medine, Adiele, Golambeckis, Oyebade, Kamara; Hargan, Fearon (Beckford 80), Sowunmi, Ajala (Balogun 90+2), Landers. Subs (not used): Nightingale, Ebho, Unwin.
BOOKED: Fearon, Sowunmi.
SENT OFF: Adiele (85).
GOAL: Hargan (59).
Sent off: Adiele
