Report & Highlights: Hammers hat-trick sinks Palace

Summary

• Two changes to the side as Grante and Trialist come in for Walker-Smith and Agbinone

• Eastwood saves Rigge’s penalty a quarter of an hour in

• Ajala puts West Ham ahead in the 20th minute

• He quickly doubles the lead for the visitors six minutes later

• Browne, Casey and Dashi have chances to pull one back for Palace before the break

• HT: Palace 0-2 West Ham

• Marjoram halves the deficit 10 minutes into the second-half

• Both sides scrap for the next goal as tempers start to flare

• Rigge gets West Ham’s third in the 75th minute

• Ajala completes his hat-trick late on

• FT: Palace 1-4 West Ham

Crystal Palace Under-18s hosted West Ham United in their final home game of the 2023/24 campaign, looking to build on their win away at Aston Villa last weekend.

Rob Quinn made two changes to the side which won in the West Midlands, with Jake Grante and Trialist coming in for Charlie Walker-Smith and Asher Agbinone.

West Ham started brightly, enjoying more of the ball and hitting Palace on incisive breakaways. They were awarded a penalty a quarter of an hour and Daniel Rigge stepped up to take it.

Billy Eastwood in the Palace goal stood tall and dived down to his left to stop Rigge’s effort from 12-yards, keeping the scores level.

Palace’s joy from stopping the spot-kick was short-lived, however, as West Ham took the lead a few minutes later. On a breakaway from a Palace attack, Elisha Sowanmi fed Josh Ajala and the West Ham forward managed to curl it into the top corner with the help of a deflection.

Things went from bad to worse for Palace as the visitors doubled their lead a few minutes later. A misplaced Palace pass was pounced upon in midfield by the Hammers and Ajala was in space inside the box to slot in the second.

The young Eagles now had it all to do, chasing the game against last season’s champions. Luke Browne, Benji Casey and Matteo Dashi had chances to pull one back as the half went on, but none of them could find a way past Finlay Herrick in the West Ham goal.

Palace started the second-half brightly, as they continued their attempts to halve the deficit. The eventual breakthrough came 10 minutes into the half as Finley Marjoram netted a fine finish on his weaker left foot.

Back-to-back goals for Marjoram saw Palace push on for an equaliser, though West Ham came close to restoring their two-goal cushion as Sowanmi fired a free-kick narrowly wide.

Tempers started to flare as both sides were looking to find the all-important fourth goal of the game. Eventually, after multiple delays, it was West Ham who found the next goal of the game with 15 minutes remaining.

A fierce effort from Sowanmi on the edge of the box bounced back out after striking the crossbar, and Rigge was quickest to react inside the box to bundle in West Ham’s third.

The visitors rounded off the scoring and made sure of leaving with three points as Ajala completed his hat-trick in the 90th minute. A surging run, followed by a quick one-two with Emeka Adeile, saw him break inside the box to finish on his right foot.

Six minutes of stoppage time followed before the referee brought an end to proceedings. The result means that Quinn’s side now sit in sixth place with one game remaining.

Palace: Eastwood (GK), Marjoram (Walker-Smith, 77), Grante, Browne, Cowin, King, Gibbard, S. Williams, Dashi, Trialist (Redhead, 85), Casey.

Subs not used: Hill (GK), Austin, Adams-Collman.

West Ham: Herrick, Mayers (Brown, 45), Briggs, Golambeckis, Adeile, Medine, Rigge (Halim, 80), Sowanmi (Parker, 79), Akpata, Caliste (Fearon, 62), Ajala.

Sub not used: Abraham (GK).