Nuno Espirito Santo’s first-team – 3-1 victors over Premier League rivals Newcastle – were not the only West Ham United side who celebrated a big win over the weekend.
Because one day before Lucas Paqueta and Tomas Soucek deepened Eddie Howe’s woes – there are now only five points between the Hammers and the Magpies in the bottom half of the table, by the way – Lauris Coggin’s Under-18s obliterated Ipswich Town with a scoreline which will leave some readers wondering if they have put their contact lenses in back-to-front.
Ipswich 2-8 West Ham United.
A seldom-seen result, and an equally rare feat achieved by one of Coggin’s baby-faced talents.
It has been a proud few weeks for the club’s Under-18 coach. Ezra Mayers signed professional terms with West Ham in late-October. Another of their brightest young up-and-comers, Preston Fearon, credited Coggin with helping him rise through the ranks in East London while putting pen to paper himself.
It remains to be seen whether Isaac Thomas ends up making a similar splash at Under-21 level, a la Mayers, Fearon, Josh Ajala and Airidas Golambeckis.
But after four goals in one bizarre East Anglian afternoon, 16-year-old Thomas suddenly looks like a name to keep very close tabs on as Coggin’s latest crop progress.
Lauris Coggin hails Isaac Thomas as West Ham United thrash Ipswich Town
This, remarkably, was Thomas’ debut for the West Ham Under-18s. As first impressions go, this is right up there.
The Wales youth international put the Hammers ahead soon after kick-off with a backpost header from a Jethro Medine free-kick. He converted another header on the back of a glorious Andre Dike curler.
Thomas made it a hat-trick of headers in the second-half, and still had time to turn a treble into a quartet when he converted Joe Scanlon’s cross with his foot at the death.
As emphasised by the number four on his back, though, Thomas is anything but a natural-born striker. Four goals in one game from a number nine would be impressive enough. From a centre-half, though, this is not something you see every day.
“I think it speaks to the depth of quality that we’ve got within the academy. Isaac is not naturally a centre-half, so for him to step into that position, and then to score from set-pieces, which, as you’ve seen this year, are prominent throughout the game, was brilliant,” Coggin told the official West Ham website.
Andre Dike continues to shine for the Hammers at youth level
The influential Medine also found the net as West Ham ran riot, while Boakye-King added to Ipswich’s misery with an own goal. The aforementioned England U17 forward Andre Dike is making an impression at Under-21 level these days, meanwhile, and looked a cut above as he marked his return to the Under-18s with a brace.
“I thought we were dominant throughout,” adds Coggin. We spoke before the game about controlling the first ball, the second ball, to allow us to play the game in the way that we wanted to.
“We did that from the start, scoring three good goals early on, which put us in a position where we could show our individual and collective quality.
“We were obviously disappointed to concede the two goals just before half-time, which changed the momentum, but I spoke to the players about staying calm in that moment and believing in what we hoped the second half would be.”
After starting the season with three defeats in four, Coggin’s team are now climbing the table while having put a 5-0 home defeat by local rivals Tottenham Hotspur behind them.
“I’m really proud of that group,” the coach smiles. “Against Tottenham, they faced a much older side, but the boys showed great maturity.
“There have been plenty of changes, but once again I’m proud of how they performed.”
