U23’s overcome by Billericay
A bright young Hammers U23 side that included two-trialists and a number of U18 starlets were beaten 3-1 by Isthmian League Premier Division side Billericay Town at The New Lodge on Tuesday night.
The hosts, who have made headlines by signing the ex-Liverpool duo of Paul Konchesky and Jermaine Pennant, were too strong for the youngsters as Terry Westley’s men were condemned to defeat in their final friendly before tomorrow’s PL2 Division One opener against Everton.
Goals from Billy Bricknell, Pennant himself and Sam Deering to seal the deal for Ricay, with Dan Kemp scoring our constellation goal. There was a capacity crowd of over 4,000 at The AGP Arena in Essex for the tie, which will prove perfect experience for the starlets, who have a massive season in the Top-Flight of youth Football ahead of them.
Hammers Carabao Cup request accepted
The English Football Association have accepted a request from our board for our Carabao Cup Second Round fixture to be reversed if we are given a home-tie in Thursday’s draw. In the event that we are drawn at home, the fixture will be played as an away-fixture at the opposition’s Ground, and the club will be forced to pay compensation to whoever that team may be.
We reached The Quarter-Final of last season’s competition, beating Accrington Stanley and Chelsea along the way, but were dumped out in the last-eight by Manchester United. It is also the first time in two-years that we are featuring in the Second-Round, having received byes due to our Europa League campaigns over the past couple of years.
The draw for the stage will take place tonight on Sky Sports News after the completion of Bury vs Sunderland in the First-Round.
Football greats praise Chicharito signing
The iconic Footballing duo of Hammers legend Geoff Hurst and Arsenal great Thierry Henry have given plaudits to our Croatian boss Slaven Bilic over the signing of Mexico striker Javier Hernandez. The former Red Devils man joined the club for a fee of £16 million from Bayer Leverkusen, after becoming Mexico’s all-time leading goal-scorer back in May.
Another man who knows a thing or two about scoring goals is Geoff Hurst, who is the only player in history to have scored a hat-trick in a World Cup Final and has scored over 180-goals in Claret & Blue. This is what the England Legend had to say about the signing of Hernandez in a recent interview: “He is absolutely the right kind of striker, he’s a quality player and can score goals”.
Likewise, former France Legend Thierry Henry, the two-time Premier League winner and fellow World Cup champion has also advocated for the deal. The 2000 European Championship medal winner had high-praise for Chicharito on Sky Sports News, saying: It looks like a very, very good buy for West Ham. He is an old-fashioned striker and absolutely lethal in the box”.
So, with “The Little Pea” drawing-in attention from some of Football’s greatest, how will he fare in his competitive-debut at his old-stamping-ground in just three-days-time?