Neil Wood's team were in good form ahead of the trip south but did not get the rub of the green in Romford and were unable to respond to Will Fish's unfortunate own-goal and, at the start of the second half, a contentious penalty by Oladapo Afolayan. Facundo Pellistri was denied a spot-kick at the other end and Hannibal was shown a straight red card in the closing stages.
The youngsters showed much of the artistry and endeavour which had been a feature of recent matches but a mixture of poor luck and stoic Hammers’ defending in front of goal sentenced United to our third loss of the season.