Sean Adarkwa kicked-off the busiest day of his young career by scoring both goals as West Ham United U18s came from behind twice to draw 2-2 with Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Hammers trailed twice to the Seagulls at a bitterly cold Little Heath, where two goals from Ryan Longman put the visitors ahead at the break.
However, Adarkwa had already equalised once when he latched onto Veron Parkes’ pass and levelled matters for a second time seven minutes after half-time.
Having secured a point for his team in U18 Premier League South at lunchtime, the 18-year-old striker made the short journey to Chigwell Construction Stadium to take his place on the bench for the U23s’s Premier League 2 clash with Brighton. Unfortunately, he was unable to repeat the trick as the Hammers fell to a 4-2 defeat.
Getting back to the U18s, Mark Phillips and Jack Collison would have been pleased by the performance of their young team, which included no fewer than four schoolboys – goalkeeper Serine Sanneh, centre-back Jamal Baptiste, full-back Joel Wilson-Esbrand and Germany U16 international defender Bright Arrey-Mbi.
Two more schoolboys, Jayden Fevrier and Kai Corbett, were introduced from the substitutes’ bench as West Ham completed their 2018 fixture list with their first draw in eleven league matches.
The Hammers end the year in sixth place, with 16 points, and will return to action after the Christmas break at Southampton on Saturday 5 January 2019.
West Ham United U18s: Sanneh, Arrey-Mbi, Wilson-Esbrand (Fevrier 72), Ngakia ©, Baptiste, Okotcha, Chesters, Nebyla (Giddings 78), Stroud, Adarkwa (Corbett 69), Parkes
Sub not used: Appiah-Forson