U21s report: Arsenal 1-1 West Ham United

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WHAT HAPPENED

We shared the points with West Ham United in a 1-1 draw on Friday night at Meadow Park.

Mehmet Ali's side made the better start on the night, Salah-Eddine Oulad M'hand going close after a confident passage of play between our midfield trio.

Charles Sagoe Jr and Joel Ideho both looked sharp in the opening stages, with the latter sending an effort just wide of Krisztian Hegyi's goal.

Our fast start was cancelled out by the visitors who grew into the half and forced Hubert Graczyk into a number of smart stops before the break.

Oulad M'hand was replaced by Catalin Cirjan at the interval as we started the second half with the same energy as the first, Amario Cozier-Duberry going agonisingly close to connecting with Ideho's cross to hand us the lead.

The deadlock was finally broken when Ideho capped his impressive display with a well-taken strike - firing home via the post from just outside the area.

Our Dutch winger went close to completing his brace just minutes later, but failed to find a clean strike when through one-on-one with Hegyi.

West Ham were handed a route back into the game when Ben Cottrell committed a foul in the box - Divin Mubama stepped up and fired high into the top right-hand corner, with Graczyk diving the right way.

Cozier-Duberry twice stung the palms of Hegyi in the closing stages as we pushed for a late winner, but were unable to restore our lead and had to settle for one point.