WEST HAM Academy director Tony Carr praised the defensive display of his under-18s side after they secured a goalless draw away to Coventry City in the FA Premier Academy League.

Building on a 3-0 home win over MK Dons the Hammers’ young guns travelled to the Midlands and delivered a solid display, which almost earned them all three points.

In their opening three games West Ham’s youngsters shipped six goals, but after recording back-to-back clean sheets Carr was delighted to see his team play with greater resilience.

“We’ve been working very hard on that side of the game just to try and improve the team play and the team performance,” he said.

“At Coventry, I thought it all came together - we worked very hard and it was a very tough game in terms of the intensity of it. There was no quarter asked or given.

“We had a couple of good chances. The first fell to Blair Turgott after great work from Matthias Fanimo. His shot was well-saved on the line by the goalkeeper before being scrambled away. We appealed that it might have gone over the line, but the assistant referee was having none of it.

“Blair had another great chance, too. He was picked out by Eoin Wearen and his touch just let him down.

If his first touch had been true he certainly would have gone on and scored because he was right in the centre of the goal with just the goalkeeper to beat.”

West Ham sit second in the Academy League Group B table behind leaders Norwich City ahead of Saturday morning’s home meeting with Crystal Palace.

Youth team striker Jack Werndly has been allowed to join Norwich City on a permanent basis after the Norfolk-based club agreed to take over the 17-year-old’s scholarship.

Under-16 attacker Kieran Sadlier has been selected for the Republic of Ireland squad for the forthcoming UEFA European under-17 Championship qualifying tournament, hosted by Malta, between 20 September and 1 October.

n HAMMERS reserves will face Wigan reserves at Ship Lane (Thurrock FC) on Tuesday at 7pm.

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