Dan Kemp grabbed a couple.
(Photo by Avril Husband/West Ham United via Getty Images)
There is no further room for doubt about what is happening at West Ham United right now!
For while the first team were completing a thoroughly efficient FA Cup victory over Birmingham City with the help of three former academy products, the under 23s were thrashing Manchester City in their own back yard by no less than five goals to one.
These are extraordinary times to be a Hammer with the next club skipper certain to be Declan Rice and the likes of Grady Diangana and Xande Silva showing themselves ready to become regular first team squad members.
But it doesn’t end there because academy director Terry Westley and his staff are producing a crop of youngsters the like of seen we may not have seen since the last century.
Today away to City the miraculous overtook the remarkable to remind us all of what is happening at the grass roots of our club and it’s nothing short of sensational.
The 5-1 result came via goals from Joe Powell, a brace from Dan Kemp , Amadou Diallo and Sean Adarkwa after having lost their last three matches before Christmas.
A delighted Liam Manning who with Steve Potts is in charge of the under 23s said: “We got off to a really good start which we put a lot of emphasis on for the boys, so that was great, but what was really pleasing was the fact that we hit back so quickly and responded so well when City equalised.
“It’s something we haven’t done well this season, but that was great to do that today and the boys deserve a lot of credit for it.
“City play their own style and of course, getting the early goal helped us deal with that, and same with the red card, but it’s not easy and they had some experience out their. Their captain, [Eric] Garcia played in the first team in the cup against Leicester, so it was a challenge for us.
“There were some really great individual performances, too. Tunji Akinola cleared one off the line at 2-1, a real game-changing moment, and he got injured and had to come off, but had that gone in, it’s 2-2 at half-time and you’re looking at a different game.
“Moses Makasi, our captain, was great again today too and Pasky [Josh Pask] had a solid game. Jahmal [Hector-Ingram] up top was a real handful, so there were some great performances all over the pitch.
“It was a great performance and away result for us and now we have to take that confidence and mentality into our next game which is a big London derby match against Tottenham.”