The Fleet returned to the Kuflink Stadium for the first time since April and made it a winning comeback as a goal in either half recorded the same scoreline as last season’s friendly against West Ham’s U21s.
The starting XI got a full hour under their belts before 10 sets of fresh legs were introduced for the last 30 minutes, with Fleet already two goals in front.
There was little action in the opening stages of the game with the first chance arriving on nine minutes when Dom Samuel broke from the halfway line and was in plenty of space to run on. Instead, he opted to lay the ball into the path of former West Ham academy product Lennon Peake who sent his shot marginally off target.
Maxx Manktelow tried his luck from inside the box following a corner but that one also couldn’t quite find the target. George Moncur was the third Fleet player in quick succession to fire a shot towards goal but his half-volley dragged wide.
The young West Ham team went in search of an opener with 23 minutes on the clock as Dan Rigge pulled the trigger from 25 yards out on a free-kick that skimmed across goal and had Gio Bellagambi at full stretch.
The visitors thought they’d found the opener just past the half-hour mark but Josh Ajala’s low shot into the bottom corner didn’t count as the referee spotted a foul on Gene Kennedy in the build-up.
An opener did arrive eight minutes before the break, however, and it was for the Fleet with the first goal at the Kuflink of the 2025/26 campaign. Manktelow was the creator, steering a superb ball across the pitch into the path of Peake. He advanced down the flank with a quick run that gave him the space to loose off a shot past goalkeeper Mason Terry.
Ajala grazed the post at the other end and Bellagambi did well with a dive to his right post to push away Sean Moore’s effort to send the Fleet in at the break in front.
There were shouts for a penalty early in the second-half when Ben Coker’s headed effort appeared to strike the arm of a West Ham defender but that was waved away. Dangerous corners delivered by Peake were an issue for the young Hammers side – his first delivery was met by Manktelow and cleared off the line while the second on 57 minutes eventually fell into the path of Kennedy who rifled his effort into the roof of the net to double the Fleet’s lead.
After a mass change on the hour mark, Aaron Cosgrave had a chance to add a third but had to watch his opportunity float just over the bar and a second chance went a similar way later on.
West Ham came close to securing a consolation goal but Mark Cousins made a smart dive to his left to deny Josh Landers who was in close proximity after getting behind the Fleet line, something the visitors found hard to do for much of the rest of 90 minutes.
EUFC: Bellagambi, Seaman, Coker, Nelson, Olagunju, Manktelow, Kennedy, Peake, Moncur, Coley, Samuel
EUFC (60mins): Cousins, Uma, Ehmer, Fielding, Hessenthaler, Kennedy (Trialist 83), Chapman, Barnes, Edser, Cosgrave, Appiah
WHUFC: Terry, Robinson (Medine 65), Luizão (Oyebade 46), Forbes (Briggs 65), Clayton (Brown 65), Caliste, Akpata (Hargan 46), Moore (Sowunmi 65), Rigge, Battrum (Cummings 65), Ajala (Landers 65)
Attendance: tbc
Photos: © EUFC/Ed Miller
