There proved to be an almighty gulf in class between the respective Under-21 set-ups of West Ham United and Monaco during Tuesday night’s Premier League International Cup clash in Dagenham.

A month after Joel Kerr scored twice to see off Valencia in their first group stage match, Mark Robson’s youngsters were dragged back down to earth with an almighty bump.

Yet, it was not an evening entirely devoid of positives.

West Ham United thrashed by Monaco but Lanre Awesu and Reon Smith impress

Goalkeeper Lanre Awesu has been turning heads in recent weeks and was arguably the Hammers’ best performer here. He pulled off a series of stops to keep the scoreline from becoming truly humiliating, the official West Ham website describing his performance between the sticks as ‘incredible’ and ‘sensational’.

Robson had his usual praise for assist-king Jethro Medine, meanwhile. And Reon Smith, still only 16 years of age, would also catch the eye up against players far further along in their development following his second-half introduction.

Smith already represents England at Under-18 level, and appears to be on the verge of a permanent spot in Robson’s U21 set-up too.

“It was really good to get a few of the younger lads out there to experience what it’s like against a top, physical side,” said Robson, giving minutes to a host of U18 talent including Chuk Obi, Jude Longman, Reggie Morris and Harry Montague, the latter having signed a new contract only a few weeks ago.

“It was always going to be a difficult game for them, but I knew the experience was really important. It’s a big learning curve for them. Monaco play men’s football every week. The younger ones won’t be used to this type of football in the U18s, it’s completely different. All the boys had a go and did well.

“If you look at what we had tonight, in terms of some of the younger players, we want to give them opportunities to show what they can do. I thought Reon came on in a really tough game against physical opposition, but he did well. We can learn from these games all the time.”

Monaco streets ahead of Dortmund, Athletic Club and co

West Ham will round out their group stage campaign with a final two fixtures against Juventus in November and Genk in December. They exited the Premier League International Cup at the first round last season, losing to Sporting Club, Athletic Bilbao and Borussia Dortmund before a morale-boosting 1-0 victory over Anderlecht.

Robson, though, feels that a Monaco academy which produced the likes of Thierry Henry, David Trezeguet and Kylian Mbappe were a step above anything his Hammers have faced in this competition.

“They were probably the best team we’ve played in a few years,” he adds. “They were strong, big, well-organised and technically very, very good. We certainly struggled early on and that knocked our confidence a little bit. We played against a strong side and we have to hold our hands up, they were much better than us on the night.

“We had more possession in the second half, which was pleasing, so we probably handled it a bit better then. But again, we didn’t create enough or look like we would get in behind them.

“We had a bit more of a threat on the right through Jethro [Medine], who I thought did well in the second half. We got in a couple of times on the left with Joel [Kerr] as well. But we didn’t threaten enough.”