West Ham coach full of praise for Town’s methods

It was the second time Hatters had taken on their Premier League opponents and won in recent times, as Matt Robinson’g goal secured a 1-0 win last month.

This time it was a double from Jim Stevenson that saw Luton to victory, as Haycock said: “That’s real, games like this are what the boys are going to experience if they go and play in the league whether they play in the Conference, League Two or League One.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for John Still, Terry Harris and Hakan Hayrettin and the work that he does here because they play organised football.

“They play off a shape and play fast, aggressive football and that’s something which you’ve got to deal with and we don’t encounter very often in the U21 league.

“For me the challenge is far greater than the U21 league and I still want to keep pressuring the Premier League to let us be part of the league pyramid and that’s what this FA Commission should look at doing.”

The standout performer for Hammers on the night was Blair Turgott as he netted for the visitors, but then saw a second half penalty saved by Elliot Justham.

Haycock felt his side deserved more from the evening, as he added: “The Luton fans here will be delighted but we should have won the game hands down in the second half with the amount of chances we had, missing a penalty and missing two sort of one-on-ones.

“But at the end of the day it was a very pleasing response in the second half with a very young team out.

“Coming out of the game, I didn’t think there was too much wrong first half. I just thought we needed to press more and play higher up the pitch to threaten their backline a little more.”

“He (Turgott) was unlucky not to come off with a hat-trick and a couple of assists as well so he can be well pleased with his performance.

“I thought he deserved to take the penalty because I thought he was our outstanding player.”

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