West Ham comfortably defeated Danish side Viborg 3-1 at the London Stadium last night, putting them in a great position to qualify for the group stage of the Europa Conference League.
The Hammers made a number of changes ahead of the game, most notably new signings Gianluca Scamacca and Maxwel Cornet being handed their first starts for the club. Promising young right back Harrison Ashby was also selected in the starting line-up.
Jarrod Bowen had the first chance of the game, as his curling effort went just wide of the Viborg goal. However, it wasn’t long before West Ham had the lead, as just over 15 minutes later Gianluca Scamacca latched onto a floated ball in from Maxwel Cornet, and headed the ball low into the bottom right corner.
It was an uneventful end to the half, and it wasn’t until the 64th minute that the game would liven up again, as the Hammers doubled their lead. Bowen got his first goal of the season, punishing the Viborg defence for giving him too much space on the edge of the box as he fired his shot into the bottom right corner.
Both sides would make some changes just after the goal, Scamacca, Bowen and Ogbonna would make way, and Antonio, Benrahma and new signing Kehrer came on for the hosts.
5 minutes later, Viborg were handed a lifeline. Jakob Bonde got on the end of a cross from Sorensen to head past Alphonse Areola giving the away side some hope.
But West Ham would retake their two goal lead just 9 minutes later. Said Benrahma drove down the left wing before cutting back to Michail Antonio who had the simple task of tapping into an empty net.
Next up for the Hammers is Brighton at home in the Premier League on Sunday, before they travel to Denmark for the second leg of this Conference League qualifier.
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