Jamal Campbell-Ryce

Posh U18s edge out The Hammers in a nine-goal thriller in pre-season.

Peterborough United U18s grabbed their first victory of pre-season after a 5-4 victory over FA Youth Cup winners West Ham United U18s on Saturday afternoon.

The hosts opened the scoring on nine minutes as an effort from the edge of the box found the back of the net at the near-post. Posh brought the scores level on 25 minutes as Tyler Winters’ shot from inside the box was spilt by the goalkeeper and Torin Ntege was on hand to convert from close-range.

Then, straight from kick-off, Winters nicked the ball off the defender and advanced through on-goal before calmly slotting the ball into the back of the net. The Hammers grabbed an equaliser just before the half an hour mark as a scramble inside the box was eventually forced home.

The Hammers took the lead on 35 minutes before a powerful effort from Harley Mills from the edge of the box found the bottom corner to bring the scores level just ahead of the break. Posh reinstated their lead 58 minutes as Mills’ cross was taken down by Winters before Trialist fired home.

The Hammers grabbed their fourth goal of the afternoon on 69 minutes to make the score 4-4, but Posh secured the win on 84 minutes as Dennis Kelmendi’s corner caused havoc inside the hosts’ box and Joe Davies was there to force the ball home.

Jamal Campbell-Ryce said: “I thought the players were fantastic and they did everything that I asked of them. We will keep reiterating that pre-season is about fitness, but as the weeks' progress, we will try to get our principles and game model in place. I thought we were better than West Ham, which might be my own bias, I felt we gifted them three goals but we were outstanding. I felt we dominated the game and created plenty of chances, but we will just need to tidy up at the back."