FA Youth Cup QF v West Ham United

[Charnwood]

I was really disappointed that this game isn’t shown live on any channel I like the last round when we beat Liverpool at Portman Road.

I have however been following live updates from the EADT and exciting it’s been too with Town taking the lead after only 6 minutes. Unfortunately this was followed by a harsh sending off of ond of our defenders which the competition favourites swiftly took advantage of to equalise. HT 1-1.

In the 68th minute a brilliant goal from Nico Valentine put the 10 men Town back in from but unfortunately the lead didn’t last long as 2 minutes later the hammers equalised which is how the 90 mins ended all square. FT 2-2.

Extra Time in nie under way and however it ends our boys will have put up a formidable performance.

HT: We've reached half-time in extra-time.Town are doing very, very well.

Following this takes me back to the early 70’s watching some great FA Youth Cup ties at Portman Road that regularly had decent attendances and great atmosphere’s.

The big question is can we win this ? Unfortunately the game has all the signs of being decided by penalties.

Oh no; GOAL - Ipswich Town 2-3 West Ham United (Battrum, 116)
That's so harsh on Ipswich. West Ham break, the ball runs loose and Battrum fires through bodies and into the net.

As Town push forward in search of a late equaliser the visitors Barajas and slot home their fourth GOAL, 4-2 West Ham (Mubama 120)

And that's it, the full-time whistle goes.
FT: Ipswich Town 2-4 West Ham United

Thanks to EADT for great updates. Despite the disappointment I look forward to reading the full match report tomorrow. It certainly appears we have some great talent coming through and after tonight’s 10 man performance against a team that many would say are the best U18 team in the Country, who would argue against it.

[number 9]

We lost though, right?

[Charnwood]

We did lose 9, but to get a scale of the level of performance from our boys you need to understand that West Ham are currently the leaders of the U18 Premier League (Southern) Division 15 points clear of their closest rivals Fulham and even further ahead of the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs. In fact looking closer at the table they’ve won 13 of their 15 games played so far this season, that’s some level of performance.

Our boys have also already knocked out Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the Northern Division in previous rounds and have no right to be competing so well at this level. These are incredible performances from a team playing their regular football in a lower league against the likes of Millwall, Charlton, Watford, QPR & Colchester where we’re ranked 7th from 10.

[number 9]

Yeah for a league one set up, we do have a great youth system in place. Hopefully, the first team will benefit in the future. Well done lads!