Thomas Hitzlsperger was all smiles after making a winning start to his West Ham United career.

The Germany international was in eye-catching form during Wednesday's 2-1 pre-season friendly victory at Peterborough United, creating one goal and impressing with his composed midfield play and outstanding range of passing.

The 28-year-old took just 13 minutes to show why Avram Grant has brought him to the Boleyn Ground by laying on the opening goal for Carlton Cole.

"I'm glad that we won. The manager said before the game that, even though it was a pre-season friendly, he wanted to start the season with a win and that's what we did.

"I was happy with the assist. Obviously it was lovely to play and contribute to the game so to get an assist was good.

"I've enjoyed it from day one. It's been really good. They are good lads who have made it easy for me to settle in. I've enjoyed it so far and I'm just looking forward to the new season."

Hitzlsperger played on the left of a three-man midfield alongside Radoslav Kovac and Mark Noble. From that position, he was able to showcase his full range of talents, making a number of important interceptions and tackles while also breaking forward to support the front three of Junior Stanislas, Luis Boa Morte and Cole.

It was the former Aston Villa man's passing that stole the show, however, with his renowned left foot finding his team-mates with unerring accuracy. One such inch-perfect ball allowed Cole to score with a neat clipped finish.

With a host of exciting signings in the pipeline and the likes of Hammer of the Year Scott Parker, Robert Green and Matthew Upson ready to join the squad at their training camp in Germany this weekend, the new boy believes the future is bright.

"We need to improve on last season. We've got a new manager and I'm new in the team. I haven't seen much of them last season, but obviously we need to improve. It's not good enough to be there at the bottom of the table fighting against relegation.

"We want to be higher up in the table, play some good football, make it hard for the other teams to beat us and play attractive football.

"I'm looking forward to it because, from what I've seen in training, there are some really good players about and I'm quite positive."

Hitzlsperger watched the second half from the substitutes' bench and was impressed by the form shown by the club's promising youngsters.

No fewer than ten Academy graduates appeared during the closing 45 minutes with one, Anthony Edgar, scoring an outstanding individual goal to secure victory for Grant's side.

"They're very good, very sharp and positive in the way that they were going forward. We've got many young, talented players and that's obviously what you want. We've got a talented group of lads here and that's why we should be looking forward to the new season. We've got enough quality."