Lee Bowyer hopes Charlton youngsters take positives from League Cup exit at hands of Premier League West Ham

BY LOUIS MENDEZ

Lee Bowyer hopes his young players will learn plenty from this evening’s 3-0 League Cup defeat at West Ham.

The Premier League side progressed to the third round thanks to a first-half brace from Sebastien Haller and a late strike from Felipe Anderson.

The score line didn’t tell the whole story though, with the Addicks putting their hosts under pressure at times, especially in the second-half.

Bowyer handed a debut to Manchester United loanee Dylan Levitt,19, at the London Stadium, with fellow youngsters Charlie Barker and Alfie Doughty amongst those to impress for the visitors.

“You young lads, take this as a learning curve,” said Bowyer on his return to east London, having spent two spells at West Ham during his playing career.

“You’ve played against these players and seen what it takes, what they do. This is what we need you to do as young players, to improve.

“Charlie [Barker], playing against Premier League centre-forwards. They should all take something from it.

“Young Dylan, he started a little bit nervy, but you could see what he’s going to bring to us. It’s going to take him a little bit to settle in. Alfie caused them problems. There’s a lot of positives to take from tonight. Ignore the result. It shouldn’t have been 3-0, we deserved to get a goal.”

“First-half we looked really nervous. Ninety per cent of our passes were going backwards. They were afraid of giving the ball away. It became a lot of negative play. At half-time and had a word with them and said believe you can play.

“Second-half I thought we looked the most dangerous. We looked like we were going to score more than they did. The only thing we were lacking was that final pass, that final finish. That’s what you pay for. They get that chance at the end and it kills the game. For large parts of that second-half we looked the better side.”

PHOTOS: KYLE ANDREWS