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Massive under 18s crush Arsenal to land double

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FA Youth Cup Final

Arsenal under 18s 1 Hammers under 18s 5

By Hughie Southon

Kevin Keen’s magnificent under 18s landed their club’s first FA Youth Cup in 24 years  beating Arsenal at the Emirates 4-1 this evening.

George Earthy – great goal and a fine game

They came from behind after Benjamin had smashed home an early goal for Jack Wilshere to crush the north Londoners 5-1 and frankly they look an amazingly well organised outfit.

We saw three amazing goals with Earthy equalising befre Callum Marshall added a second two minutes later.

But the third was a remarkable effort from skipper Kodua who – spotting the Gooners keeper off his line – delivered a chipped effort from 40 years to hand the Hammers a two goal lead at half time.

The academy is looking in wonderful shape again and it got better in the second half when after a determined Arsenal start we went further ahead with Casey rising high to nod home a corner kick.

And right at the end Rigge – having arrived a minute or two earlier off the bench-  knocked in the fifth with the outside of his boot.

No praise is high enough for this group who had won the Premier League 2 League earlier and thus landed an amazing double in front of a 26,000 crowd.

The future looks more golden than bright – the academy is  in great shape as these determined youngsters demonstrated in magnificent style.

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Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!"

Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon

1 comment

  • exsoulie says:

    I cant believe that U18s can play football at that level.Top draw entertainment,class,quality,these lads are pure machine(Rolls Royce comes to mind).Surely deserve to be aired when the football is at this standard.The lads have raised the standards of football in my mind,the bench mark of youth football.

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