Adorjan nets in Hammers defeat
Krisztian Adorjan's 83rd-minute penalty failed to spark a late revival as Liverpool U21s slipped to a 2-1 defeat against West Ham at Upton Park.
The Hungarian halved the deficit after goals from Ben Marlow and Elliot Lee gave the Hammers a 2-0 lead.
Adam Morgan was unfortunate to be denied a penalty claim with minutes remaining when he was hauled to the floor inside the box; however, the referee waved play on.
The last meeting between the sides had produced a 3-3 draw, with all of West Ham's goals coming from corners. And after 11 minutes on Friday, the Londoners picked up where they left off as Marlow battered home an in-swinging corner to edge them in front.
Alex Inglethorpe's young side were almost punished from another set-piece 10 minutes later when Kieran Bywater arrowed a dangerous cross towards the far post and centre-back Pelly Ruddock nodded narrowly over.
Liverpool carved chances. Joao Carlos Teixeira stung the hands of 'keeper Sam Baxter when he collected a pass from Nacho and thrashed the ball goalwards from 25 yards. Jon Flanagan floated an inviting pass into the heart of the penalty area and Adorjan rose to head wide.
West Ham midfielder Lee took matters into his own hands on 39 minutes, weaving his way through the gaps in the Liverpool back-line and wrong-footing Stephen Sama before opening his body to curl beyond Peter Gulacsi and cap a superb solo effort.
Baxter came to the Hammers' rescue six minutes after the restart when Morgan's deflected effort broke kindly for Adorjan. The goalkeeper rushed from his line to smother the ball as the Liverpool forward shaped to finish.
Seconds later Peterson found space out on the left channel, clipped the ball back into the centre where Adorjan sliced wide as he tried to take the travelling ball in his stride.
Daniel Potts was in the right place at the right time to deny Teixeira yards from the goalline before substitute Jack Dunn cut inside onto his favoured left foot and let rip with a thunderous, dipping effort that forced Baxter into a finger-tip save.
With seven minutes left on the clock, Jordan Spence clipped the heels of Adorjan as the Reds forward wriggled free inside the penalty area and the Hungarian kept calm as he swept the ball past Baxter and into the corner of the net for 2-1.
Morgan was then brought down inside the box by Potts but the foul went unpunished and Liverpool were forced to settle for a frustrating defeat.