Calderon: Playing well for 25 minutes isn't enough

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Under-18s coach reflects on defeat to West Ham United.

BHAFC

2023-09-25T06:00:00Z

Inigo Calderon's team are ninth in Premier League South.

Men’s under-18s head coach Inigo Calderon admits that Saturday’s 3-1 home defeat to West Ham United in Premier League South was tough to take.

His team got off to a perfect start when Zane Albarus scored after just 11 minutes. The move started with goalkeeper Lorenz Ferdinand, with Albion working it well out of defence and down the left flank. While Albion benefitted from some poor defending from the Irons as the hosts got into the box, it still needed Albarus to get to a half-clearance first and slide the ball home.

It looked as if Albion would go in at the break ahead but the Irons had other plans. Jemiah Umolu smartly rolled the ball home from Preston Fearon’s flicked header, before Umola put West Ham in front four minutes into the second half.

Zane Albarus scored for Albion after 11 minutes.

The forward did well to turn his marker in the box and rifle an effort past Ferdinand to make it 2-1, and Daniel Rigge added to West Ham’s lead in slightly fortuitous circumstances with 20 minutes to play when his strike from the edge of the box took a big deflection and wrong-footed Ferdinand.

Calderon said, “It was a difficult one to take because the first 25 minutes was the best we have played this season. But we are a team that needs to have control of the ball and when we don’t we start to feel uncomfortable.

“I prefer to see the positives. You can see the improvements, but it feels a bit like we are still in pre-season as everybody gets used to the ideas we have.

“We are playing in the league though, so we have to improve because playing well for 25-30 minutes isn’t enough.”