Joshua Brown from Brentwood followed West Ham United to Andorra for the UEFA Europa League first qualifying round second leg against FC Lusitans. Here he gives his take on the game and the trip with the Claret and Blue Army...
Our trip to Andorra involved some early starts and very long days. We arrived at Stansted for 6am on Wednesday and didn’t get back until 4am on Friday.
We’ve all had a great time and Andorra was lovely. We bumped into loads of West Ham fans around the town on Thursday and were lucky enough to have lunch with David Sullivan as he was in the same place as us.
He was very polite and pleasant and was surrounded by West Ham fans and was soaking up the atmosphere before the game, which was good to see.
Looking at the game, I thought the West Ham fans dominated the atmosphere as there wasn’t a lot of home support. The stadium was very picturesque and very different. The game itself was played at quite a slow pace but I thought we dominated it and the sending off only made us work harder.
I thought Reece Oxford was very comfortable and composed for his age and Josh Cullen shone in the middle of the park on his first full start. It’s good to see the kids getting a run out as that’s what West Ham is about.
I was personally really pleased to see Elliot Lee score his first goal on his first full start, particularly for me as I know him and his brother well. I’ve watched him grow up from a young boy and played against him a few times.
I think he’s improved massively and I think we’re now playing better football for him. He’s strong on the ball and has great hold-up play. He’s still young but the main thing is he’s now taking his chance when he’s been given it. I’d say he’s now getting closer to the first team with every game he plays.
So overall it has been a great experience travelling to Andorra. Will I now be in Malta? Well that all depends if I can get the time off work!
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of West Ham United