Match Report - Umea V West Ham United - 13 Jul 2004

West Ham opened their preseason campaign with a 5-0 win over Ulmea in Sweden on Tuesday night - and Bobby Zamora grabbed a hat trick.

His goals on 18', 29', and 65' paved the way for Youssef Sofiane, back at the club after a loan spell in France, to score on 75 minutes, and Marlon Harewood completed, as they say, the rout on 80'.

Team: Walker [Bywater], Ferdinand, Dailly, Repka, Brevett [Reo-Coker], McAnuff [Harewood], Carrick [Lomas], Nowland, Cohen, Zamora, Sofiane.

REACTION FROM THE BOSS

Alan Pardew says he was pleased after West Ham won 5-0 in their first friendly game of the campaign - and insists he is willing to give Youssef Sofiane every chance to prove himself.

Youssef is back at the club after a loan spell in his native France - and signalled his return with a goal.

"He has shown me his stuff and he played okay tonight, scoring the goal, so it is a decent start for him," says Alan.

"He has come back and he wants to have a fresh start - I am the sort of manager that has no problem with that.

"The ball is in his court and he has come back with levels of fitness that are very high, so that is a good beginning for him - so far, so good."

Of the game overall, he adds:

"It was a good workout for us on an artificial pitch, and I wanted the lads to experience that - we coped really well with it.

"Obviously Bobby got a hat trick which was a great start for him, but there were a lot of positives that we got out of the game - so we are very pleased.

"We had five or six players who played 90 minutes and they all came through it fine; they will have a cool-down tomorrow while everybody else will work.

"We are unscathed so we are pleased about that as well."

It was just the right standard of opposition to get things going, he says, who adds:

"I think they have won 10 out of their first 11 games, so this was a bit of a setback for them!

"We were right at it, to be honest, and I think that a few of the locals said they were a bit surprised at the condition of us.

"The lads have worked extremely hard already and the attitude has been spot-on considering the setback we had in the playoff final."

James Walker, West Ham's sole summer signing thus far, made his debut and Alan says:

"He started the game but had a tight hamstring so Steve came on in the second half."