West Ham United Under-23s finished off their Checkatrade Trophy campaign with their first points, edging out Northampton Town 3-2 on penalties after their 1-1 stalemate in normal time.
Getting points on board
The young Hammers knew they wouldn't make it out of their group, but went to the Sixfields Stadium looking to end their experience on a high.
It didnt look to be heading that way initially, when a poorly cleared free-kick fell to Harry Beautyman, and he gave Raphael Spiegel no chance as he drilled it in from the edge of the area.
However Terry Westley's side picked up their performance from there, and equalised five minutes from the break. A slick passing display saw the ball reach the feet of Djar Parfitt-Williams who dinked it over David Cornell.
The away side dominated after the break, and almost had the win in normal time but Dan Kemp fired over in stoppage time.
He redeemed himself in what proved to be the winning penalty, as John-Joe O'Toole missed his decisive penalty to see the Hammers go home with a bonus point.
Pleasing performance
It has been far from a easy run for the Hammers, with 4-2 and 3-0 defeats to Coventry City and Wycombe Wanderers respectively, but manager Westley praised the performance of his side's efforts against Rob Page's side.
"Tonight was the biggest challenge of the three," he told whufc.com. "We asked the players to dominate the game but we didn't want to get in a physical battle with them."
"We ended up with seven youth team players on the pitch and we kept trying to play," he noted. "Kept moving the ball around and it was a pleasing performance."
Westley concluded: "Some players stood up for themselves against a good team."
West Ham United U23's will take on Blackburn Rovers in the U23 Premier League at the Chigwell Construction Stadium on Monday, November 21 with kick-off at 7pm BST.