West Ham’s special night

West Ham’s first game at London Stadium ended in a resounding victory as they saw off NK Domzale 3-0 on the night and 4-2 on aggregate to progress to the play-off round of the Europa League. Adam Bate was there to witness a special night for the club’s supporters…

“We approach this game like we do every other one,” said Winston Reid on the eve of his team’s Europa League tie with NK Domzale. Try telling that the West Ham supporters who made their way to London Stadium, the former Olympic Stadium, on Thursday.

Having said farewell to the Boleyn Ground in May, this was a night for new beginnings – a club record attendance and club record queues for the match-day programme too. It was an historic occasion to stir emotions, an occasion to remember, and the fans knew it.

They lingered longer than might usually be expected near the half-and-half scarf sellers. They got the phones out to take videos as well as selfies. Eyes were wide and spirits were high. And that was just the grown-ups.

Things will take time to settle down. “It doesn’t feel like a home game,” admitted Slaven Bilic in the build-up. Mark Noble summed up the mood. “It will be weird,” explained the skipper. “But this is the future and if we want to move forward, this is what we have to do.”

On the pitch, West Ham did what they had to do. Facing a 2-1 deficit from the first leg, that was soon wiped out by Cheikhou Kouyate’s close-range effort and the midfielder stabbed home a second soon after to put the Hammers ahead. There …

continue reading in source www.skysports.com