Europa Conference League Roundup: West Ham battle to win in Belgium, Silkeborg smash FCSB
The East Londoners were hoping to put a shaky start to the season behind them, building on a 2-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers at the weekend, but they were made to work for it in Belgium.
There were openings at both ends during the first half, with Said Benrahma presented with several half-chances for the visitors, while Fabio Silva and Yari Verschaeren came closest for Anderlecht.
Undoubtedly, the opportunity of the half came just minutes before the break, when the aforementioned Benrahma blazed over the bar following a direct run and cut-back from Jarrod Bowen.
The game remained wide open after the restart, with Silva and Benrahma spurning chances for their respective sides. However, the Hammers soon upped the ante in search of the opening goal, taking control of the game with sustained pressure on the hosts’ backline.
The introductions of Declan Rice, Lucas Paqueta, and Gianluca Scamacca for the final 20 minutes made David Moyes’ intentions abundantly clear, and they paid dividends as each played a role in West Ham’s winner little over 10 minutes from time.
A long diagonal from Rice was nodded down into Paqueta’s path, allowing the Brazilian to find Scamacca, who neatly tucked his effort inside the far post.
With time running out, Alphonse Areola produced a pivotal reflex save to deny Silva’s bullet header and claim a sixth victory in nine matches for the Hammers.
As for Anderlecht, although not unexpected, defeat further intensifies the scrutiny on under-pressure boss Felice Mazzu as his side look to reach the knockout stages of a European competition for the first time since 2016/17.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Jarrod Bowen (West Ham United)
In other fixtures:
Elsewhere in the early round of fixtures, as mentioned, Silkeborg shone in a 5-0 win at home against Romanian side FCSB.
Meanwhile, FC Ballkani of Kosovo went to Turkey and came away with their first win of the Conference League campaign, beating Sivasspor 4-3 with a last-gasp winner after the Turks had seemingly captured a draw in injury time.
Molde beat Shamrock Rovers 3-0 at home while Pyunik Yerevan continued their good start to the group stage with a 2-0 win at home to Zalgiris.
Nice went to the Czech Republic and won 1-0 at Slovacko. Finally, Dnipro-1 and Vaduz drew 2-2 while Lech Poznan and Hapoel Beer Sheva ended goalless.