West Ham shadow stars out to impress at Norwich City
Former Birmingham keeper Darren Randolph could feature for new club West Ham in Tuesday's friendly at Norwich. Picture by Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd - Credit: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd
West Ham's fringe players are out to impress Slaven Bilic against Norwich City.
The Hammers' boss is expected to rest his frontline options ahead of Thursday's latest Europa League qualifier at Upton Park at home to FC Astra.
Bilic included the likes of former Birmingham keeper Darren Randolph and a clutch of West Ham's highly-promising youngsters in the latest goalless friendly at Charlton.
Randolph also kept clean sheets in his first two competitive appearances for the Hammers against Andorran side FC Lusitans earlier in the Europa League before first choice Adrian returned for the penalty shoot-out win last week in Malta.
'I've really enjoyed my time with the club so far,' he told the Hammers' official site, after moving from St Andrews in May. 'It was a good performance against Charlton. We created quite a few chances and on another day we would have taken them. I played in the first round of the Europa League qualifiers and have played again in a few of the friendlies. It's a great bunch of lads here so I've settled in nicely. The manager hasn't set us any targets for the season yet; we're trying to concentrate on the Europa League games as they're coming thick and fast. We're trying to take each game as it comes.
'I'm always looking to improve different aspects of my game and anything that comes above that is a bonus.'
Teenage midfielder Reece Oxford operated alongside another academy graduate Josh Cullen at Charlton. The 16-year-old became West Ham's youngest ever first team debutant when he played in both Europa League legs this summer against FC Lusitans.
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'It's going well, I'm getting a lot of games in,' he told the club's official site. 'Hopefully I could (get back in the squad), but hopefully the team can just progress in the Europa League and get to the group stages. It was a good game (at Charlton) and a good experience for me playing in midfield. The team did well.
'Josh and I were talking before the game. We said one and two touches and then pop it. Angelo (Ogbonna) was telling us the same, one and two touches, so we just did that. We played well and kept a clean sheet. It's a good experience for me.'
