Elliot Lee's third double of pre-season gave the Djair Parfitt-Williams and his West Ham united Development Squad teammates a 2-0 victory at Skrill Premier side Braintree Town.
The livewire striker continued his fine summer form to notch either side of the break and maintain the young Hammers' unbeaten pre-season.
Parfitt-Williams started the match on the bench and came on in the 76th minute replacing Kieran Sadlier.
West Ham had to withstand a decent start from Braintree, who only just missed out on a play-off place in non-league football's top tier last season, before stamping their authority on the contest.
Following their involvement in the Ruhr Cup, it was a return to action closer to home as Nick Haycock's side made the journey to Essex to take on Braintree.
The hosts were first out of the blocks, with left-winger Dan Sparkes' dead ball delivery causing a few problems early on.
With 15 minutes on the clock, his corner was met by a trialist, who made a good run round the back, but he could not convert on the stretch,
Then, six minutes later, a corner from the same right flank found Mitch Brundle, although once again he failed to trouble Tim Brown in the Hammers goal.
As the half hour mark came and went, the Hammers began to impose themselves on the contest more, and Lee might have done better than fire over when Seb Lletget presented him with a shooting opportunity on 37 minutes.
As it turned out, the No9 was merely setting his radar, as four minutes later Sadlier laid a ball on a plate for him to tuck home from close range and notch his fifth goal of pre-season.
The Hammers made six changes at the break and one of the players introduced, Manny Onariase, had an early opportunity to add to the lead when he made his way forward for a set play and headed wide of the mark.
The U21s took a giant step towards their fourth win of pre-season with an hour on the clock and it was that man Lee on target again. This time Grady Diangana was the provider, feeding a pass into the striker, who took it into his stride to beat the last man and slot neatly past home keeper Nick Hamann.
Seven minutes later Sadlier tried his luck as the Hammers searched for a third, but his shot after cutting inside from the flank took a deflection and dipped just wide of the near post.
Braintree had the chance to notch a consolation three minutes from the end when Onariase was penalised for a trip on James Mulley inside the area, but Danzelle St Louis-Hamilton dived low to his right to deny Kenny Davis and preserve the Hammers' clean sheet.
West Ham United: T.Brown (St Louis-Hamilton 46); Westley (Amoo 76), Pask (Onariase 46), Burke (Akinola 46), Page (Knoyle 46); Cullen (Diangana 46), Bywater (Makasi 46); Turgott (Trialist 61), Lletget (Labonne 76), Sadlier (Parfitt-Williams 76); Lee (J.Brown 76)
|
