Hammers to learn play-off opponents after Olympic Stadium debut win

West Ham ushered in a new dawn, 86 days since the last bubbles burst over Upton Park, as they set-up home at the heart of the Olympic Park.

Slaven Bilic’s West Ham reached this stage with a 3-0 win over Slovenian outfit NK Domzale, 4-2 on aggregate, in their first game at the Olympic Stadium, now called the London Stadium. More work is needed, and some of the sightlines might keep local opticians busy, but the overwhelming sensation was of a project that will succeed.

“Yes this is an opportunity for West Ham to establish themselves but as well [to think like] this is unsafe, ” he said.

“I’m a bit surprised with that”, said Bilic.

“I think the pitch is the same size and I’m sure that we’re going to feel at home”.

“We can fіnd excuses and were mіssіng players, but we should have played much better”.

The kick-off at their new venue comes as they look to overcome a first-leg deficit to beat their modest opponents and advance to the play-off round of the Europa League. We played good football. “This is the first time we could check it and it was more than I expected.it’s a good atmosphere, it’s loud”.

The newly-anointed London Stadium welcomed its long-term tenants exactly four years to the day since London 2012’s Super Saturday – when Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis-Hill and Greg Rutherford all took gold in front of their home fans.

Dimitri Payer, James Collins and Angelo Ogbonna were also missing due to their participation at Euro 2016 during the summer, and West Ham had to name a number of youngsters on the bench for the Europa League tie.

The first leg will be played in Romania on August 18 before the reverse in London the following week. “We don’t have a mountain to climb, but a job to do”.

Both Davide Santon of Inter Milan and Norwich’s Martin Olsson are reported targets but Bilic remained coy.

West Ham are in the hunt for a left back following an injury to their first choice Aaron Cresswell.

However Bilic, who confirmed that Diafra Sakho’s move to West Bromwich Albion collapsed after the striker failed a medical, was quietly encouraged.