West Ham United’s Under-23s ensured a play-off place in the Second Division of ‘Premier League 2’ last night by defeating West Bromwich Albion by four goals to nil at The Hawthorns.
The Hammers are currently in the second tier of the Under-23 hierarchy and, as such, our young players are not testing themselves against the best in their age category on a consistent basis. In turn, this makes the jump to Premier League football with the first team that much bigger and is probably why so many of our kids have been loaned out to gain experience at a more competitive level in the Championship, League One and League Two, to varying degrees of success.
The Irons were one of four clubs contesting the two remaining play-off places and started yesterday evening a point and a place behind fifth-placed Blackburn, outside the play-off positions. Two goals from Martin Samuelsen and one each from Dan Kemp and Nathan Holland (pictured above) ensured the Hammers claimed the final play-off spot, finishing in fifth place and ousting Blackburn, who drew 0-0 at home against Aston Villa.
West Ham will now travel to second-placed Wolves at Molineux in a one-off tie on a date to be arranged. Should the young Hammers progress through to the Final, they will meet either Newcastle or Fulham, again in a one-off tie to be played at either St James’ Park or Craven Cottage (the final takes place at the home ground of the team who finished highest in the league). All play-off matches are one-off ties, decided by extra-time and then penalties if the match is level after 120 minutes.
The likes of Reece Burke, George Dobson and Toni Martinez (pictured below scoring against our play-off opponents Wolves) should be able to play as they will no longer have commitments with their loan clubs. However, Reece Oxford and Josh Cullen may be involved in Football League play-off matches with Reading and Bradford respectively.
Terry Westley’s Hammers will go into the play-off semi-final with confidence from their two previous matches with Scott Sellars’ Wolves earlier this campaign – a 2-2 draw was recorded at home back in September and the young Irons won the away match 4-0 in December.
Looking ahead to potential Final opponents, West Ham beat Peter Beardsley’s Newcastle 3-1 at home back in August and recorded a battling 0-0 draw at St James’ Park despite Arthur Masuaku’s first-half dismissal. The Magpies did knock the Hammers out of the Premier League Cup last month though, with a 3-2 win. Fulham, meanwhile, beat West Ham 4-1 at Craven Cottage in November, although the young Hammers won the home match 2-0 in February. The Cottagers’ Under-23 manager is Peter Grant, who was Alan Pardew’s assistant when West Ham won promotion in 2005 and reached the FA Cup Final the following year.
Swansea won promotion automatically by winning Division 2 and will now compete with the likes of Everton, Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and Man Utd in Division One next season. Promotion, and consequently exposure to playing against the best in their age group, will be of great importance to the development of West Ham United’s young players, both now and in the future, and cannot be underestimated. Our Under-18s are currently fourth in the Southern Division of their league, behind only Chelsea, Arsenal and Reading, and three points clear of Tottenham. It would be a shame if they had to go from performing well at the top end against such clubs to competing in the second tier of the Under-23 league.
Promotion and the subsequent place at the top table at Under-23 level will provide an extra key stepping stone for our current Under-23s to use towards hopefully developing into first-team Premier League players at our club, while paving the way for the current Under-18s (and future Under-23 team) to maintain their own progress by continuing to play against the best the country has to offer.
Here’s to wishing our next generation all the very best over the coming crucial days and weeks – Come On You Irons!