West Ham Res 0 Villa Res 1
Wednesday 31st March 2010, 6:38AM BST.
Curtis Davies staked his claim for a first-team recall against Bolton as Villa’s reserves moved within touching distance of the Reserve League South title.
Andreas Weimann’s first-half strike separated the sides as Villa’s second string stretched their unbeaten run to 12 games.
The Austrian’s goal proved enough to consolidate Villa’s two-point lead over Arsenal at the top, with Kevin MacDonald’s men still boasting two games in hand over the Gunners.
Davies was one of a handful of first-team fringe players included in the side with Marc Albrighton, Isaiah Osbourne and Moustapha Salifou also named in the side, however there was no place for Freddie Bouma.
The Hammers began brightly and Andy Marshall was quickly called into action to deny Junior Stanislas early on.
But Villa soon grabbed control and Marc Albrighton was denied by the woodwork twice within the space of a minute.
First, he saw a low rifled effort bounce back off the goal frame while moments later his curling effort came rebounded off the bar.
The goal eventually arrived, though, on 33 when Weimann raced on to a flick-on before firing in at the second attempt after being denied by keeper Marek Stech.
MacDonald’s men picked up where they left off upon resumption, with Albrighton losing his marker at the back post before volleying Osbourne’s cross wide.
But they breathed a sigh of relief when Stanislas saw his free-kick ricochet off the post just before the hour mark.
Villa always looked the more likely to add to their advantage, however, and Stech made two more excellent blocks to deny Dominik Hofbauer and Osbourne in the closing stages.
West Ham: Stech, Spence, Driver, Brown, Payne, Sanchez, Stanislas, Lee, Abdulla, Dixon, Ferrari
Villa: Marshall (Bevan HT) O’Halloran, Clark, Davies, Hogg, Albrighton, Osbourne, Salifou, Hofbauer, Collins, Weimann
UK Sport
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