West Ham under 23s remained unbeaten in Premier League 2 Division 2 last night when drawing with Stoke. as David Moyes watched on at the London Stadium.
The Hammers twice went ahead either side of half-time through well-taken goals by Xande Silva and Sean Adarkwa, but were pegged back on both occasions in the 2-2 draw.
Lead coach Dmitri Halajko said: “There were two sides to it really.
“On the one side of it, we look at it and think we’re still unbeaten. To still be unbeaten in February is a really good achievement, to still be top of the league, but the disappointing fact is we’ve let the game slip again from a winning position.
“That’s three or four times now we’ve been in a winning position in the last 15 minutes and let the other team back in it to get a draw, so that’s a disappointment.
“It could be a concentration thing. I don’t think it’s a physical thing, but it could be. We just haven’t managed to always hold out when it becomes crucial. That needs to be a time when we sharpen our minds, not the time we slack off.
“We need to smell that victory is coming, and hold out and clinch our games, rather than step off for the last 15 minutes and let teams back in.”
Seeking to stretch their advantage at the top of the table to five points, Halajko fielded a strong eleven for the visit of Stoke, who themselves were fourth prior to the game.
And he added: “We had enough chances to kill the game off, both at 1-0 and when we were 2-1 up.
“We certainly had the openings where our final pass or our final touch or our shot wasn’t at the level needed really, and if they were, we would have won the game comfortably.”
“The first-team manager was here and all of his coaching staff. Playing at a stadium like this is a massive stage for our lads, and there’ve been some bits where they’ve done well and they’ll be happy with, and some bits where we can certainly improve.
“This kind of environment in which to play football is brilliant for their development.”