How Graham Potter could have done with one of his West Ham United first-teamers emulating the feat of a striker who simply cannot stop scoring behind the scenes at the Premier League outfit.
Heading into Monday night’s trip to Everton, only Aston Villa, Wolves and Leeds have scored fewer goals this season than the Hammers.
Take away Lucas Paqueta’s penalty at Nottingham Forest and that Malick Diouf-assisted Jarrod Bowen header against Crystal Palace, and West Ham United have found the net only three times from open play. Neither Callum Wilson nor Niclas Fullkrug really looked like adding to that rather paltry tally last weekend either.
But, while some West Ham fans are clamouring for Callum Marshall to get a shot on the back of some impressive performances both in pre-season and with the Under-21s, there is another young striker whose record at the moment is bordering on the obscene.
By slamming a first-half hat-trick past Brighton and Hove Albion on Friday night, Josh Landers took his tally to 14 goals in just 18 matches for West Ham’s reserves.
Mark Robson lauds West Ham United’s hat-trick hero Josh Landers
A Scotland youth international, Landers only moved to England in January from Hibernian.
After netting nine times in 12 games for the club’s Under-18s in the second-half of last season, Landers has stepped up to West Ham’s Under-21 side like a proverbial duck to water this term.
He hit a brace in a 4-2 win over Sunderland on his first start at this level. Landers would go one better a month later.
A hat-trick completed between the 7th and the 24th minute against Brighton means he averages a goal every 1.2 matches right now across West Ham’s youth teams.
Landers opened the scoring with a well-placed left-footed finish on the turn. His second came mere moments later. A defence-splitting Mohamadou Kante pass, and the coolest of strikes into the bottom corner.
The teenage Scot was in the right place at the right time – as all good goalscorers tend to be – as the ball dropped loose for his hat-trick before the half-hour mark.
“Josh did really well,” Robson told the official West Ham website. “The first one was a really, really good finish, but it wasn’t just about his goals.
“I thought his hold-up play and bringing others into the game has improved a lot. He’s been out for a couple of weeks so we were limited in how much time we could give him tonight, but to score that hat-trick, I was really pleased for him.”
England Under-17 forward Andre Dike steps up to new level
Robson’s joy was tempered, of course, by the fact West Ham let a 3-0 half-time lead slip in an eventual six-goal thriller.
“I thought we were excellent first half. We really took the game to them and caused them problems,” the coach added. “We’ve been consistent in how we’ve played all season. Probably only against Manchester City did we not perform properly, but in every other game we’ve been really good, in and out of possession, and together as a group.
“The boys are taking on board the work we’re doing with them and it’s enjoyable to watch them developing.”
“We’re probably a little disappointed we didn’t play as well after the break. We went a bit longer from the goalkeeper, lost a bit of composure and maybe a bit of confidence when they scored early. We probably just needed to stay calm and relax, and maybe if we did that the result could have been different.”
Robson was, though, delighted to see Andre Dike make an impression, the 17-year-old joining Landers in the Under-21 set-up.
The England Under-17 winger signed professional terms at West Ham in July.
“Overall, I can’t grumble. In the end I was happy with the point because they put us under a lot of pressure. They’re a strong, good side with some really good players, and physically they probably had the better of us in the second half.
“It was a really good opportunity to get Andre on and give him a taste of U21s football. Going up against someone like [Brighton’s 28-year-old ‘overage’ player Ben] Barclay, that’s a massive challenge and probably a big ‘wow’ for him because he wouldn’t have faced that sort of player before.
“When we look back at the goals we conceded, there are little mistakes that we’ll work on. They’re part of our identity as a team, and if we’d got them right, maybe they don’t score. But it’s a massive learning curve, particularly for the younger ones. As the cliché goes, it was a game of two halves, in the first half I thought we were better than them, in the second half they were better than us.”
