On their way to the capital, Manchester United’s Under-23s took on West Ham behind closed doors at Rush Green.
For what is always a difficult match against the London club, it provided the opportunity for United to pass West Ham in the table and place in the top four.
Things didn’t start well for United as West Ham were immediately on the front foot, sending in some dangerous crosses for Radek Vitek and Teden Mengi to deal with.
A punt fell at the feet of Armstrong Oko-Flex, who dribbled past Marc Jurado and caused the Spaniard to lose his balance as he turned. Struggling to his feet, Jurado dropped Oko-Flex, conceding a penalty in the fifth minute.
After some discussion about who would take the penalty, Irish international Oko-Flex dispatched to make it 1-0.
United tried to fight their way back with a nifty link on the play down the left through Anthony Elanga and Álvaro Fernández.
Elanga stormed into the West Ham area passing his man, but cover Jamal Baptiste slipped away clearing the dangers with a strong challenge.
West Ham thought they had made it 2-0 when Perkins swerved between United center-backs and was able to return home after a swinging cross. But the assistant referee’s flag came to United’s rescue calling offside in what seemed like an incredibly tight decision.
United kept trying to hit back through Elanga, but Baptiste had his number and wouldn’t let it pass.
A back-and-forth game for the first 30 minutes, United were struggling to break through West Ham’s last line of defense. Meanwhile, Vitek was being questioned, forcing him to make a series of good saves.
United’s closest opportunity came in the 32nd minute when Charlie Wellens provided an overlapping run and opened his body to push for the far post, but hit the outside of the crossbar.
At the other end, after splashing Vitek’s goal, West Ham found the breakthrough to put the 2-0 in a corner. The impressive Baptiste lost Mengi in the area and headed head through the goal and into the far post.
Wellens looked to become a supplier when he threw a low cross to Joe Hugill, but he volleyed it over the bar from just five yards.
Just before the half-time whistle sounded, Oko-Flex ran back to Jurado and delivered a ball that deflected the Spaniard and headed for Vitek, who tried to knock it over the crossbar. But he couldn’t get a hand strong enough and pushed towards the goal.
United entered the break with a flaming 3-0. Despite their 58% possession, United’s youngsters couldn’t find the opening to hit a single shot on goal.
The second half started and it was Oko-Flex causing danger again as he ran behind and as he was about to shoot Mengi slipped and cut him to give West Ham their second penalty.
The recent Celtic signing returned to collect his own penalty, becoming three for him on the day.
With the game out of sight, the pace slowed for much of the second half with West Ham in cruise control.
However, a bad day worsened when Chesters ran after Fernandez and the Spaniard’s tracking run accidentally hit the West Ham forward, knocking him down. The referee considered that it was a matter of denying a scoring opportunity and gave Fernández a direct red.
Fernández, one of United’s best players this season, will be a big mistake in the next games.
West Ham then made five, with a long, curved ball behind Mengi that lost his man and Perkins ran to catch.
The match was completed in the 88th minute with a strange deflected free kick that somehow spun into the bottom corner out of Vitek’s reach.
A day to be forgotten for Manchester United’s youngsters, they hope that their return to the capital next week to face Tottenham will do better for them.
Unidos: Vitek, Jurado, Mengi, Hardley, Fernandez, Wellens, Svidersky, Mather (Norkett 74), Forson (Hoogewerf 63), Elanga, Hugill
Unused Subs: Polakowski
Read our player ratings for the match here.
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