Djair Parfitt-Williams and his West Ham United Under 18 teammates came from behind to beat Southampton Under 18 3-2 at Little Heath.
After a positive opening to the game, West Ham found themselves 2-0 down as Kyle Clinton and Ollie Cook headed in from Armani Little crosses.
Goals from Jahmal Hector-Ingram and Jordan Brown drew the game level before the break, with substitute Kieran Bailey volleying in the winning goal with just five minutes remaining.
Under 18 boss Steve Potts has witnessed his Academy side begin their Barclays Under 18 Premier League campaign without losing a game, having won an opening day fixture away at West Bromwich Albion, before three consecutive draws against Leicester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea.
West Ham made two changes to the team that earned a 2-2 draw against fellow Londoners Chelsea just a week before. Under 16 pair Joe Linley and Jahmal Hector-Ingram were named in the starting eleven in place of Kyle Knoyle, who featured for Nick Haycock's Development Squad at Fulham and Joe Powell.
With the visitors looking for their first league victory of the season and West Ham aiming to extend their unbeaten run, the game exploded to life with both teams attempting to gain control of possession to start an attack.
The first real effort on goal came for the Hammers through Hector-Ingram down the right, however after speeding away from his marker, his shot from a wide angle ended up flying high over the crossbar.
Down the other end of the pitch and the majority of Southampton's opportunities involved their influential midfielder Little. Firstly, the 17 year old curled a free kick from the edge of the box into the side netting, before perfectly finding the head of Clinton in the West Ham penalty area to put the visitors ahead.
Just eight minutes later and another Little free kick was met with a leaping header in the penalty area. This time it was Cook who lost his marker to head Southampton 2-0 up despite the best efforts of West Ham’s left back Vashon Neufville on the goalline.
West Ham raised their performance and got a foothold back in the game just after the half-hour mark. Hector-Ingram picked the ball up on the right wing, before using a mixture of speed and skill to beat two defenders inside the box and sliding a shot inside the near post.
The goal gave the hosts confidence to push on for an equalizer before the break, which they claimed with the final kick of the first half. With the Southampton defense failing to clear the danger on the edge of their penalty area, striker Brown fired an unstoppable low shot into the bottom right hand corner of the net.
West Ham came out for the second half with positivity after correcting their own wrongdoing in the opening 20 minutes. Linely, Brown and Parfitt-Williams all tried their luck with efforts at goal, which forced Southampton’s goalkeeper Harry Isted into several smart saves.
Potts made just one change during the match, which saw Bailey introduced after 75 minutes in place of Hector-Ingram. With just five minutes left on the clock, Southampton failed to fully clear the danger once more, which was a mistake Bailey punished them for. He met a half clearance with a volley from 22 yards that was deflected past Isted and into the back of the net.
West Ham now sit third in the Barclays 18 Premier League South, one point behind league leaders Arsenal and second place Chelsea, with nine undefeated points from their opening five league fixtures.
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