U18s Report & Highlights: Palace open campaign with West Ham win

Either side of Joel Kerr’s penalty for West Ham, Ajean Greaves bagged two goals as captain, before debutant Toby Williams sealed the three points with a spectacular strike from the halfway line.

Summary:

• 3 - GOAL: Palace take an early lead thanks to Greaves.
• 7: McDonald forces a smart save from Goodger.
• 21: Benetton puts his body on the line to deny Day.
• 24: Greaves almost doubles his tally bus his shot is saved.
• 29: GOAL: Joel Kerr scores a penalty for West Ham.
• 32: Kerr cuts inside and shoots but Benetton saves.
• 45: Fasida fires a late first-half chance over the bar.
• Half-time: West Ham U18s 1-1 Palace U18s
• 76: Kerr unable to convert from close range.
• 78: Martin’s shot nearly gives Palace the lead.
• 86 - GOAL: Greaves scores again to put Palace ahead.
• 96 - GOAL: Williams scores from the halfway line to seal the three points.
• Full-time: West Ham U18s 1-3 Palace U18s

Fresh off the back of a historic 25/26 campaign, Palace returned to competitive action, refurbished with a thrilling mix of new talent.

The season opener with West Ham saw the Young Eagles introduce scholars Alfie Mulvenna, Dylan Monk, Sebastian Bonsu-Amako and Kayden Moses into the starting XI, with the talented Nathanael Kalembo also stepping up from the U16s squad.

Keen to stamp their mark on the new season immediately, Javier Alonso’s side produced an electric start to the fixture.

A neat give-and-go between Raihaan Anderson and Donte Martin sculpted a shooting chance for Anderson on the left-hand side of the penalty area. Shooting low and hard, his effort was parried into the centre of the six-yard box, where captain Ajean-Ray Greaves was on hand to tap in the rebound.

Palace’s early-season rust was hardly noticeable, as the lead nearly doubled shortly after the first goal.

Greaves, involved once again, cut inside from the right flank, finding Jayden McDonald on the edge of the area. The forward shot quickly while on the turn, forcing a smart, low save from Tommy Goodger.

For West Ham, their performance kicked into gear around the 20-minute mark, and the match came to life.

Two well-worked moves in two minutes resulted in Frankie Day having two opportunities to test Lucca Benetton, but the young Palace ‘keeper stood firm, putting his body on the line to deny the Hammers’ forward.

The Young Eagles responded by creating opportunities for themselves. Anderson shot narrowly wide and a Goodger save prevented Greaves from completing his brace, but West Ham’s newfound energy eventually paid dividends, thanks to Joel Kerr.

With a burst of pace and a tricky piece of footwork, Kerr burst past Monk into the Palace penalty area and drew a foul with some clever body positioning. The man fouled quickly accepted the responsibility of taking the spot kick and converted calmly, sending Benetton the wrong way to equalise.

Energised by his first goal of the season, Kerr came alive, becoming a focal point of West Ham’s dangerous attacks.

Whether it was through creating shooting opportunities for himself or setting up others, the winger was proving difficult to contain. Thanks to a number of Benetton saves, however, the score remained level heading into the half-time interval.

Both teams’ desire to win was apparent, but for large periods of the second half it became scrappy, with neither squad able to create opportunities at the same frequency as the first 45 minutes.

Though as the final whistle neared and the teams became more desperate in attack, goalscoring opportunities eventually began to appear in the final 15 minutes. Moments after Kerr was unable to convert Isaac Thomas’ cross from close range, Palace came close to regaining the lead.

Thanks to a smart press, the ball was won high by Donte Martin in the West Ham penalty area. Catching his defender off guard, the forward sharply turned and hit an early shot that Goodger saved impressively.

Minutes later, however, the West Ham shot-stopper was left helpless, and Palace’s resilience and ability to weather the first-half storm was rewarded.

A slick move operated by Greaves and debutant Arthur O’Keefe caused mayhem in the home team’s penalty area, and the ball finally dropped at Toby Williams’ feet – another debutant.

In a passage similar to the one that brought Palace’s opener on the day, Williams had a shot parried into the centre of the six-yard area, and, once again, the Young Eagles’ captain reacted fastest to tap the ball into an empty net.

Chaos ensued in the final 10 minutes following Greaves’ second goal. The hosts threw all they had at the Palace backline, but it was Alonso’s side who got the last laugh, putting the game to bed with a phenomenal goal.

After the ball dropped to his feet just yards inside the West Ham half, Williams noticed the home ‘keeper off his line, and launched an audacious effort over his head to round off his competitive debut in remarkable fashion.

It proved to be the last action of the match, and Palace had begun their 26/27 Premier League South campaign with a hard-fought 3-1 victory.

Palace XI: Benetton (GK); Greaves, Kalembo, Mulvenna, Monk (O’Keefe, 45), Anderson; Bonsu-Amako, Fasida; Moses (Williams, 66), McDonald (Lee, 66), Martin.

Subs not used: Speroni (GK), Owoade, Shittu, Smith-Phillips.

West Ham XI: Goodger (GK), Magowan (Brown, 73), Ugate, Omotoye, Smith,  Agyemang, Peychev (Pammenter, 81), Longman (Noble, 81), Day (Mandungu, 60), Thomas, Kerr.

Subs not used: Gadson, Tomlin, Brown, MacAj.