Winks buoyant after Hammers strike

Harry Winks netted his first domestic goal of the season in Friday’s Barclays Under-21 Premier League victory at West Ham and quipped: “It’s about time!”

The England Under-19 international swept home our second of the night in slightly fortuitous circumstances as we completed a league double over the Hammers to go back to the top of the table.

But regardless of the untidy build-up, the all-action central midfielder said he was delighted to get off the mark and continue his development in a 3-1 London derby success.

“It’s about time I scored to be honest, so I was happy to get myself a goal,” said the 18-year-old, who slotted home on 56 minutes after Nathan Oduwa prevented home goalkeeper Raphael Spiegel from gathering a wind-swept back-pass from Hammers goalscorer Ravel Morrison and prodded the ball into his path.

“The keeper got a dodgy back-pass and I just thought I’d gamble on it, thinking hopefully it would come towards me. Luckily enough it did fall to me and I was delighted to score.

“Sometimes you have to grind out games and find ways to win, and I think we did that today.”

Harry, who made his senior debut in November’s Europa League victory over Partizan Belgrade and frequently trains with the first team squad, has featured in nine of our 10 Barclays Under-21 Premier League matches to date.

While admitting it was a tough test at Rush Green – a brace of free-kicks from Grant Ward helping us to victory – the hard-working youngster is keen to see us keep up the pace at the league summit while continuing to develop on a personal level.

“It was quite a difficult game at West Ham with the conditions and the wind, but the main thing is we won,” he added.

“We want to be up there as high as we can in the table and we’re top now, so it’s up to us to try and stay there.”