Lusitans 0 West Ham 1 (Irons win 4-0 on aggregate)
Elliot Lee grabbed his chance to impress Slaven Bilic with a well taken goal that sealed West Ham’s place in the next qualifying round of the Europa League.
The striker made his full senior debut in front of the new manager and did himself no harm at all by putting in a good all-round performance, as the Hammers emerged 4-0 aggregate winners over the two legs.
On the night, tempers were high and Reece Oxford was on the end of a late challenge before a Diafra Sakho and Lusitan defender, Moises San Nicolas, had to be pulled apart. The two were then involved in a further confrontation which saw Nicolas dramatically throw himself to the ground after Sak raised his hands. As a result, the Hammers hitman was sent-off.
Thankfully, Sakho’s dismsissal made no difference to the balance of power, and when Matt Jarvis flicked the ball round the corner for Lee, the striker curled his shot past Gerardo Rubio before celebrating in front of the travelling Claret and Blue army
The Hammers were later denied a penalty when Lee was felled just as he was about to shoot, but ridiculously play was waved on.
The Hammers continued to dominate for the rest of the match with Josh Cullen enjoying a fine 90 minutes in midfield. Matt Jarvis also looked sharp.
Lusitans managed to get the ball into the back of the Hammers net after the interval– when centre-back San Nicolas headed a free-kick past Darren Randolph – only to see the effort ruled out for a blatant offside.
With time running out, Terry Westley brought on youngsters Reece Burke, replacing Joey O’Brien on his 100th appearance for the club, and 2014-15 U18 top goalscorer, Djair Parfitt-Williams, who made his second senior appearance for the club.
Roll on Malta
You can’t win against a team of semi professional cloggers and kickers like Lusitans, where part of their game plan would’ve been to unsettle us through dirty tricks.
Anyway we’re now through without major injury and two squads now become one!
The revolution begins now!
Kids got us through this one.Now on to next thursday 😉
Onwards & upwards,one set of goat herders down,bring on the next! 😉
Through to the next round.Is all that matters.Bit of a non-event today it appears.
Round 1 done and dusted no injuries kids given a run out, a few moaning that we didn’t tank them but in the end got through. I see on the dark side at our illustrious neighbours some are mentioning our dearly departed former manager hoping if they same his name three times like Beetlejuice he will reappear….
Lee will carry on scoring against all opposition,he is a natural goal scorer,I hope this season he will get a chance in the premier,
Well done boys what ever the opposition you still have to beat them
Well said Bubs the kid has never been given a chance yet there are those who say he won’t make it based against stats, there are some promising youngsters judge them on game time not development leagues or under 21’s…. They could potentially save us millions and take us back to the days where we developed from within
Elliot Lee will never make it as a premier league striker,i have watched him many times for the devs,he just aint got what it takes for the step up.I would love to be proved wrong but he is a lower championship team/league one striker at best.Never going to be a prem forward imho.
You are dreamers if you think Elliot is going to be a prem striker.I know it is a nice thought to have a kid come through the ranks but he isnt good enough alas.He was being called for last season because the hippo didnt play him but he aint good enough for the premiership.Sooner people realize this the less hopes they will have of him being some prem option for us.
To be fair i think its widely accepted that Lee hasnt got what it takes to step up into the prem but he will still do us a job in the early rounds of the europa.Personally i can see him being either loaned out again or sold at some point this season.
Maybe if we all say it enough times he will magically turn into a Prem standard striker,lol
Can’t be any worse than Freddie Sears…
Still, Slav appears to be interested in youth development and he’s probably at one of the best football clubs for that. Hopefully he will be able to have an influence in the same way Rio cam thru the ranks when he was at the back for us.
To be fair Freddie has proved his worth the hard way & is now back in the Championship.Rio & Elliot Lee are chalk & cheese.Lets not forget he went on loan to Luton last season & only scored in 2 of 11 matches there.I would love to see the kid be a success but a bit of realism is needed about his ability 😉
Agree Stingray, Freddie is proving it now. But he didn’t for a long time with us.
And Rio and Lee are different you’re right, different eras too. All I’m saying is that maybe some decent nurturing and experience is some of the lesser first team matches may make a difference to his game. It might not, it’s a tough business.
I am out voted and except all your views,
But I think he will make it, not as a great team player not as a creative player not able to assist with others scoring,
Just as an goal scorer,it takes a special person who only hangs around to score goals,
Lineker,Greaves and a few others come to mind,not great footballers but know where the net is.
Just my opinion ( don’t need to tell me he is not one of the above ) but he could be one day
Keep the dream alive Bubs 😀