Allardyce: Time for young guns to step up

Sam Allardyce hopes last night’s thrashing at the hands of Wigan will stun some of his young players in to realising how much they need to improve to play regular first-team football for West Ham.

Teenagers Dylan Tombides, Daniel Potts, Robert Hall and Matt Fanimo were all given a chance to impress Allardyce yesterday in the Capital One Cup clash against Wigan, but they all left Upton Park in disappointment after a 4-1 defeat.