The sold-out Boleyn Ground crowd on Saturday afternoon included one very special supporter.
LCpl Marc Holden is a serving member of the Army and lifelong Hammers fan who has just returned from a six-month tour at Patrol Base 2 in Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan
He sat in the Bobby Moore Upper and earned a well-deserved rest after undertaking a mammoth cycle of the 3,456 miles from Camp Bastion back to London.
The huge physical test has been undertaken on exercises bikes, starting off in the searing Afghan heat in late June and continuing back home since his return with the aim to finish just before the 1-0 win against Barnsley.
"Within the first couple of weeks during the tour, the battlegroup I was supporting had already been in Afghanistan for a month and had already suffered casualties including soldiers who had legs limbs blown off," said Holden. "I wanted to directly help them since our unit's sole purpose was to support the 1 Rifles Battlegroup.
"I was simply riding on the exercise bike one afternoon and decided that this would be a realistic challenge I could complete. I checked the details online and worked out that I could cycle the 3,456 miles from Camp Bastion back to London."
Marc has received huge support, particularly from fans, with 90 per cent of the money he has raised so far coming from fans on the westhamonline.net forum. The aim is to raise more than £2,000.
Anyone wanting to donate can still do so by logging on to http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/bastiontolondon