West Ham United battled to a tough 1-1 Barclays U18 Premier League draw at Aston Villa.
The Hammers deservedly went ahead when Bermuda-born attacker Djair Parfitt-Williams finished low into the corner from Grady Diangana's cut-back, but the visitors then wasted several chances to double their advantage. It was the forward's seventh goal of a productive season.
Villa pulled themselves level on 69 minutes when Rushian Hepburn-Murphy finished well into the corner, before England international goalkeeper Sam Howes denied the hosts a last-minute winner to secure a point for West Ham.
Under 18’s coach Mark Phillips made six changes to the Academy side that had been defeated 3-2 at home by Fulham just a week earlier. Jake Eggleton and Declan Rice were replaced at the back by Tunji Akinola and Manny Onariase, while Alex Pike also returned to the squad.
Kieran Bailey dropped to the bench, allowing Jerry Amoo a starting role at Bodymoor Heath, while Jahmal Hector-Ingram and Decarrey Sheriff both missed out on the trip to the Midlands and were replaced by recent Development Squad call-ups Jordan Brown and Parfitt-Williams.
Throughout the opening 20 minutes, both sides were very even in terms of possession and efforts on goal. Diangana fired high over the bar on nine minutes before Brown forced a low save out of the home goalkeeper.
Down the other end of the pitch, Villa were looking threatening with their impressive combination of pace and skill, but the hosts also failed to turn their possession into meaningful efforts on goal.
After the break, West Ham stepped up a level and began to push the hosts back deeper into their own half.
They got their reward on 52 minutes when Diangana picked the ball up inside the Villa penalty area and found Parfitt-Williams unmarked near the edge of the box. He took the shot first time and buried it low into the far corner of the net.
West Ham could have made it two when a dangerous chip in the Villa box caused a goalmouth scramble that ended with left-back Oscar Borg flicking a shot towards goal that was cleared off the line.
Following that, Carter also had a chance to double the West Ham slender advantage, but unlike Parfitt-Williams earlier in the half, the central midfielder failed to keep his low shot on target.
Aston Villa took advantage and grabbed themselves and equalizer just a minute later though, when the hosts broke quickly with pace and found Hepburn-Murphy, who duly finished the impressive move with a fine finish.
In the closing stages, the hosts thought they had scored the goal to win them the game. However, Howes appeared from nowhere to superbly tip the ball just over the bar.
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