Fulham U18 0-1 West Ham U18

Fulham Under-18s suffered their first league defeat since November, losing 1-0 to West Ham United at Motspur Park on Tuesday evening.

Riley Hargan’s second-half strike gave West Ham a deserved lead, and despite a late red card for the Hammers, Ali Melloul’s side couldn’t make the extra man advantage count.

The visitors started in confident mood – and were a matter of inches away from taking the lead after 10 minutes, with Rayan Oyebade seeing his glancing header cleared off the line.

Dino Kaiser could only watch as Joshua Ajala wrapped his boot around the ball from the edge of the box and nearly picked out the top corner, meeting Jethro Medine’s cutback with real venom.

Oyebade showed fantastic recovery pace at the other end, sprinting across his box to take the ball away from Tom Wingate, who was about to pull the trigger.

With 10 minutes until the break, Macaulay Zepa reached the byline and flashed a ball across the area with his weak foot, but there was nobody on the end of his cross-cum-shot.

A lofted ball over the top was misjudged by Logan Cooke, allowing Ajala to run through on goal, but he shot wide, perhaps put off by the onrushing Kaiser.

The deadlock was broken shortly before the hour mark as Hargan fired home at the back post, despite Cooke’s best efforts to block the shot.

Kaiser had to stand strong at his near post soon after to deny Hargan from doubling his tally and his side’s lead.

A stunning free-kick from Elisha Sowunmi, which rattled the bar, probably deserved more, but it gave our Young Whites a lifeline in the game.

It was Wingate’s turn to hit the woodwork a few minutes later, meeting a chipped Ruban Khan pass beautifully on the volley, only for it to bounce off the post.

We were beginning to find our groove in the match as Zepa forced Finley Hooper into a low save.

Emeka Adiele was shown a red card for dissent with just a few minutes to play, but despite late pressure, we failed to create a late clear cut chance.

Our U18s are next in action on Saturday with a trip to West Bromwich Albion, 12pm kick-off.