Some sloppy defending saw the Development Squad turn a 2-1 lead into a 5-2 defeat yesterday at Southampton, in what was a vital game in the chase for play-offs and now has derailed West Ham's U21 season, with third place now out of reach.
Manager Nick Haycock didn’t let his players off for the second half display but hopes that such a defeat will spur his players on for a positive last game at West Brom.
Haycock told West Ham TV: "We'll look back at that first 20 minutes and wonder how we've lost the game at all, never mind by that scoreline. For those 20 minutes the boys played to instructions, got out the traps and hit them hard early. We were a threat doing things the right way and we could have been 3-0 up before they'd even started.”
While Haycock admits that forced half time substitutions may have unsettled his team, he also noted that the young players have to learn to adapt to changes.
On the loss he said, "no excuses, they played better than us. Sometimes as a coach you have to hold your hands up and say the second 45 minutes was totally dominated by Southampton. They looked hungrier, they looked more intelligent and they looked like they wanted to win the game.
"It's the first time they have let me down and I told them that in no uncertain terms. The performance levels in the second half were unacceptable."
On the defensive side of the performance, Haycock knows that all five goals could have been avoided with better and sharper defending. He added: "good performances start from the back with keeping a clean sheet. It has stood the first team in good stead this year and I've told the boys that if you're a defender at this club, your job is to defend. The goals were kamikaze.”
He even went as far as to say that the side were “lucky” that the scoreline was only 5-2, and this seems to be the most animated and unhappy we’ve seen Haycock this season. He concluded: "I don't what the season to witter away. I want a reaction as a group of players and we have to look to West Brom to make sure we finish the season strongly."
So do we Nick, so do we!
By Lucy Woolford, Youth and Development Squad reporter
@lucy_whufc
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