West Ham United Under-18s were beaten by a late goal with Crystal Palace gaining a probably underserved win this afternoon.

The young Hammers gave as good as they got at Little Heath Sports Ground in an open and entertaining affair, which was goalless at half-time.

Lead coach Kevin Keen

Crystal Palace were searching for a fifth consecutive win and made their breakthrough seven minutes into the second half when Omilabu, burst into the area, was brought down by goalkeeper Sanneh, who was cautioned before being beaten from the spot.

The Irons were level in the  72nd minute strike by 16-year-old forward Divin Mubama – who scored a hat-trick for England U16s in the recent international break.

Unfortunately, however, parity Fionn Mooney curled the winner  in off the post with ten minutes remaining to tip a balanced game in the visitors’ favour with ten minutes to go.

There was still time for an injury-time West Ham corner to force a scramble which led to the visitors clearing the ball off their own line, but the points ultimately evaded the home side on the day.

Lead coach Kevin Keen commented: ” It was a really good Academy game and very competitive, with two good teams having a right go at each    other. Unfortunately we just came out on the wrong side of the result, which is a little bit disappointing because I think our performance deserved at least a draw. 

Overall, it was a really good team performance. We did a lot of things right today against a good team.