MATCHWATCH : West Ham United U21 (h)

[East Grinstead Royal]

Just tried finding the game on Sky, but it doesn’t seem to be there. Am I missing something?

You may need to be on the Sky Sports Plus channel (was Sky Sports Arena) to get the red button games. It would depend on what box/service you have as to whether you’d be able to get the streamed games though.

I was on Sky Sports+ but the only game available was Salford v Port Vale. I was able to watch the Col U game last week. Oh well, not the end of the world.

[Sutekh]

[Ascotexgunner]

Just tried finding the game on Sky, but it doesn’t seem to be there. Am I missing something?

You may need to be on the Sky Sports Plus channel (was Sky Sports Arena) to get the red button games. It would depend on what box/service you have as to whether you’d be able to get the streamed games though.

I was on Sky Sports+ but the only game available was Salford v Port Vale. I was able to watch the Col U game last week. Oh well, not the end of the world.

Have you got the old satellite HD box?. Red button won't work on there. It only works on the Sky Sports App and the new Sky boxes that run off broadband.

[Snowflake Royal]

Good game, nice performance. Our dominance dropped off after half time when Savage and Elliott came off, as they'd been absolutely running the show. But generally speaking everyone played well.

I think that was the best I've seen from Rushesha. Garcia continues to look like he has a big future. Very mature performance from Spencer on his debut. Abrefa did well and got a goal. Kanu kept his head and was solid. Dean had a wobble or two but fine. Akande and Ahmed were ok, but I found something a little unconvincing about both. Possibly just that they both seemed a little over eager. Wareham worked hard and bagged a goal. Delightful finish from Sackey. Osho didn't have a lot of time but did ok. Craig looked a cut above sitting in midfield. CBC did his job well, assuming there was a deflection and even if there wasn't it was only one.

[Crowbar6753]

That was a really enjoyable watch. Some great football and a better than expected crowd 3,088. Garcia looks like the next star off our academy conveyor belt yes, he's still learning but looks like he has bags of talent. Other notables, Spencer in midfield looks a good player as to Rushesha when he came on and Abrefa to has something about him and scored a great goal.
Best player for me though was Michael Craig who absolutely controlled the midfield after he came on and looked a real class act!!!

Our midfield future is looking pretty good at present with Wing, Savage, Elliot, Craig and Rushesha with the likes of Senga and Spence who will all get better with age. This really is exciting times and surly sending a clear message to new owners regarding the importance of the Academy.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Olise featured a bit in 18/19 and 19/20 before he really took off. I wonder how does Garcia look compared to Olise then?

[Snowflake Royal]

Olise featured a bit in 18/19 and 19/20 before he really took off. I wonder how does Garcia look compared to Olise then?

More reliable, less pure class.

[Orion1871]

Good exercise for the young players. Good distribution from Boyce-Clarke, was the wrong side say in the west to see if the goal was an error from him, but it looked like it could've been.Garcia a bit dodgy at times again, but he's a talent. Silly tackle aside, Abrefa did well and took his goal well too.

Rushesha very good second half, Craig brilliant when he came on, and barely missed a pass. Sackey and Wareham both with good smart finishes.

Mrs Couhig seemed to be having a good time.

[Armadillo Roadkill]

Enjoyable evening out. Bit of a shambles, long queues etc. trying to fit that many people into the Lower West - maybe use the SJM next time.

Tier 1 - Elliot, Savage and Ehibhatiomhan. they were by far the best players on the pitch, joined by Craig when he came on.
Tier 2 - Wareham, Rushesha, Abrefa, Dean.
The rest were what you'd expect from young and inexperienced players - some great bit, some unforced errors and indecision.
It was at the other end of the pitch, but you'd think CBC shouldn't get beaten at his near post like that.

So no one outside the fringes of the first team squad looked like they should be further up the pecking order, and the more senior players were clearly the best on the pitch.

Fair play to the West Ham fans that turned up, but there were some right pr1cks in there.

[Orion1871]

Enjoyable evening out. Bit of a shambles, long queues etc. trying to fit that many people into the Lower West - maybe use the SJM next time.

Tier 1 - Elliot, Savage and Ehibhatiomhan. they were by far the best players on the pitch, joined by Craig when he came on.
Tier 2 - Wareham, Rushesha, Abrefa, Dean.
The rest were what you'd expect from young and inexperienced players - some great bit, some unforced errors and indecision.
It was at the other end of the pitch, but you'd think CBC shouldn't get beaten at his near post like that.

So no one outside the fringes of the first team squad looked like they should be further up the pecking order, and the more senior players were clearly the best on the pitch.

Fair play to the West Ham fans that turned up, but there were some right pr1cks in there.

Fits.

[RG30]

Enjoyable evening out. Bit of a shambles, long queues etc. trying to fit that many people into the Lower West - maybe use the SJM next time.

Originally they said the East Stand was the only opened stand and then they changed it to the West Lower. I was in the ground relatively early so had a seat fine but heard the queues were going back pretty far close to kick-off. Similar happened at the U21 semi-final at the end of last season as well.

[Stranded]

Enjoyable game with some good individual performances - good use of subs by Selles, taking off 3 key first team players at half time - allowed us to meet the requirements of the comp in terms of strength with little negative impact.

Really glad Wareham got a goal, was offside I think but very nice finish and will give him confidence - think that miss on the final day has bugged him all summer. There is definitely a decent striker there, needs to build his confidence and goals will help.

Given the West Ham goal went down as a Dean OG, clear that CBC can't really be blamed there - he was moving across the goal to be in position if needed but the deflection (not Dean's fault) sent it the other way and he couldn't shift his weight back the other way. He was solid but had little to really do.

Finally, seeing a goalscorer so genuinely happy as Sackey was fantastic to see.

[Armadillo Roadkill]

Enjoyable game with some good individual performances - good use of subs by Selles, taking off 3 key first team players at half time - allowed us to meet the requirements of the comp in terms of strength with little negative impact.

Really glad Wareham got a goal, was offside I think but very nice finish and will give him confidence - think that miss on the final day has bugged him all summer. There is definitely a decent striker there, needs to build his confidence and goals will help.

Given the West Ham goal went down as a Dean OG, clear that CBC can't really be blamed there - he was moving across the goal to be in position if needed but the deflection (not Dean's fault) sent it the other way and he couldn't shift his weight back the other way. He was solid but had little to really do.

Finally, seeing a goalscorer so genuinely happy as Sackey was fantastic to see.

Having just watched the highlights I think you're right about CBC - you can see in Dean's reaction he got a touch that deflected it. And other than that, his distribution and commanding of the box was really very good.

[RoyalBlue]

Just tried finding the game on Sky, but it doesn’t seem to be there. Am I missing something?

You may need to be on the Sky Sports Plus channel (was Sky Sports Arena) to get the red button games. It would depend on what box/service you have as to whether you’d be able to get the streamed games though.

I was on Sky Sports+ but the only game available was Salford v Port Vale. I was able to watch the Col U game last week. Oh well, not the end of the world.

Seemingly you can't get all of the games on SkySports+ if you have a Virgin Media Tivo box, They will provide a free upgrade but reviews suggest there are quite a few negatives to the new model. So currently I am making do with watching the games on my phone using the SkySports app. Unfortunately Sky seem able to block you from mirroring your phone screen to a Smart TV when using the app (unless anyone on here knows a way around that).

[RoyalBlue]

Enjoyable evening out. Bit of a shambles, long queues etc. trying to fit that many people into the Lower West - maybe use the SJM next time.

Originally they said the East Stand was the only opened stand and then they changed it to the West Lower. I was in the ground relatively early so had a seat fine but heard the queues were going back pretty far close to kick-off. Similar happened at the U21 semi-final at the end of last season as well.

Commentator on SkySports+ had the cheek to moan about the low attendance!

[Stranded]

Enjoyable evening out. Bit of a shambles, long queues etc. trying to fit that many people into the Lower West - maybe use the SJM next time.

Originally they said the East Stand was the only opened stand and then they changed it to the West Lower. I was in the ground relatively early so had a seat fine but heard the queues were going back pretty far close to kick-off. Similar happened at the U21 semi-final at the end of last season as well.

Commentator on SkySports+ had the cheek to moan about the low attendance!

How random. Surely they know the BSM is famous for small attendances?

Anyway the 3.022 who did turn up represented the biggest gate of the night some 400 more than braved Barnsley v Man Utd u21. Burton attracted 493 fans last night.

[morganb]

BBC summed up the match in 3 sentences:

Reading were largely in control throughout as they won at home to West Ham Under-21s.

Jayden Wareham placed a shot into the far corner after a menacing run to give the hosts the lead, before right-back Kelvin Abrefa controlled a pass and fired the ball into the side netting.

Harlee Dean's own goal put West Ham in contention to get something out of the match, but Royals midfielder Tyler Sackey made the three points safe late on.

[Clyde1998]

Enjoyable evening out. Bit of a shambles, long queues etc. trying to fit that many people into the Lower West - maybe use the SJM next time.

Felt a shambles. Didn't help sections of the Lower West were roped off - centrally and the upper section of G3/G4 where the players families sit. The latter was opened up for space. They had to open up a small section of the North Stand to fit people in.

Not sure if it was only the turnstiles by the club shop that were open (or whether the turnstiles by the players' entrance were also open), but it seemed like everyone was going in that way - through about three turnstiles. Certainly didn't help the queues. It may help for any future games using only the Lower West for the club to specify which turnstiles are open and where they're located to attempt to distribute people more, as most people don't usually sit in the Lower West and wouldn't necessarily know what turnstiles are available for that stand.

I can understand why the moved it from the East Stand to Lower West given how slow the ticket sales were, but EFL Trophy matches will always be games where people will buy tickets late as there's no risk of not getting a ticket and as people realise we're actually playing. We did only have 1809 for the Charlton game last season, which would've justified using the Lower West.

I think as we play more EFL Trophy matches, the club will have more data points as to crowds, which will help them decide what stand to open. We played Swindon (6121), Arsenal U21s (3015) and Charlton (1809) last season. The crowd last night of 3022 was very similar to the Arsenal game last season (a couple hundred more home fans) - so implies we'll get 3000 when playing an U21 side in this competition. The Swindon game didn't tell the club anything, due to the nature of that fixture. The Charlton game may be more reflective of us playing a EFL Trophy game against a non-U21 side, but IIRC the club didn't really advertise the fixture.

I'd guess the club would have the Lower West open for the Newport game (our next home game in this competition), but I've got no idea what the crowd may be for that one.

[Clyde1998]

Would say on a general point, it was a very comfortable win for us. The first team regulars looked good, thought Abrefa did well, Sackey looked good in defensive midfield, Wareham scoring will be a good confidence boost for him. Was concerned about the strength of the team once we took off our three first team players, but continued to control the game.

If there's any criticisms, it would be the decision making around the box. There was a lot of going for glory, as opposed to making viable passes/crosses - I think Akande was the biggest culprit. Still, I expect the young players not involved regularly in the first team squad to be raw and it's a good experience for them.

The control of the game is a good sign. West Ham's U21 won all their group games and ended up being knocked out in the last sixteen (like us). Would hope we'll get at least one win in the remaining two group games and progress to the knockout stages again. I would like us to progress in this competition, as I think we've got a serious chance of winning it. We just need a bit of depth to the squad, which we'll hopefully get soon.

EDIT: Realised it was Spencer who started DM, not Sackey. Although Sackey looked good when he came on.

[cornflake]

On the tickets for this match , it stated to use either GATE 1 or GATE 4 turnstiles.