West Ham vs NK Domzale match report: Cheikhou Kouyate brace and late Sofiane Feghouli strike give hosts Olympic spirit

There was no stage fright on opening night for West Ham United, just goals, no mishaps, and progression to the Europa League play-off round as the Olympic Stadium re-opened for claret and blue business.

Three months after leaving Upton Park for the final time, and almost a year to the day since being eliminated from this competition at the same stage by Romanian minnows Astra Giurgiu, two first-half goals from Cheikhou Kayate and a second-half strike by summer signing Sofiane Feghouli secured a comfortable 4-2 aggregate victory over Slovenian outfit NK Domzale.

West Ham plan to officially christen their new home with bells and whistles in Sunday’s glamour friendly against Italian champions Juventus, but this was the first competitive fixture in Stratford and everything was alright on the night.

Just 87 days earlier, West Ham had given Upton Park a raucous send-off with a dramatic 3-2 victory against Manchester United on a night when the rafters of the old stadium shook for one last time.

The Olympic Stadium – or the London Stadium as it has now been rebranded, despite the £700m-plus of taxpayers’ money spent on its construction – will take time to generate the same kind of atmosphere and hostility which characterised Upton Park and this was never going to be the night when a new fuse was lit.

Domzale’s 2-1 first-leg victory at least injected some kind of edge to this game, but West Ham have not moved to Stratford for Europa League 3rd qualifying round ties and, regardless of this being the opening night, it felt more like a dress rehearsal ahead of bigger things.

And with a vast green tarpaulin covering the athletics track made famous by Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah back in 2012, and semi-permanent stands placed awkwardly in front of banks of unused seating, the stadium felt like a new build waiting for curtains and carpets to be installed.

Still, the only way a stadium can become home for players and supporters alike is with victories and goals which become etched in the memory and Kouyate’s eighth minute opener will be always be remembered as the first goal scored by a West Ham player in the club’s new arena.

The image will doubtless adorn walls inside the stadium and in homes across the East End. Day one, page one, of a new chapter. It was a scruffy opener, however, and certainly not the kind of 30-yard screamer which would match the surroundings. Enner Valencia’s pull back from the byline found Sam Byram on the edge of the six-yard box and the former Leeds defender scuffed a left-foot cross into across the penalty area, which was back-heeled into the net by Kouyate.

The Senegalese midfielder wheeled away to celebrate his moment of West Ham history, but he should really have ended the first-half by becoming the first man to score a hat-trick at the stadium, never mind the first goal. After seeing Andy Carroll’s scissor-kick blocked on 16 minutes, Kouyate scored his second nine minutes later following an assist by the England forward, who headed down Michail Antonio’s cross for Kouyate to prod the ball home from six yards.

West Ham were now ahead in the tie, leading 3-2 on aggregate, but their progression to the next round should have been confirmed on 38 minutes when Antonio led a counter-attack down the right. With Kouyate unmarked in the centre, the right-back should have squared the ball into the penalty area to give his team-mate a free shot at a hat-trick.

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But Antonio delayed his pass and his indecision gave Domzale defender Alvaro Brachi the chance to intercept and clear the danger.

Despite their one-goal lead overall, West Ham remained vulnerable to being hit on the counter-attack by their Slovenian opponents who, while lacking a clear cutting edge, were neat and tidy enough on the ball to hurt Slaven Bilic’s team.

And Matic Crnic gave warning of Domzale’s threat with a 35-yard strike on 50 minutes which forced goalkeeper Darren Randolph into his first real save of the game.

One more West Ham goal would banish the threat of extra-time and, potentially, penalties, but the home side struggled to carve out the opportunities from which to score their third. Valencia, whose trickery down the left was West Ham’s best attacking outlet in the absence of Dimitri Payet, almost won a penalty on 55 minutes when he jinked past Lucas Horvat before being chopped down by Domzale defender.

The foul was just outside the eighteen yard box, however, leaving Valencia with a free-kick from a tight angle and the Ecuadorean sent his set-piece over the bar. It was close, but not close enough.

West Ham upped the tempo as they attempted to snuff out Domzale’s fighting spirit, but Winston Reid volleyed over and Feghouli headed over the crossbar as they chased a third. But the crucial goal, which ended any prospect of a Domzale fightback, came on 81 minutes when Mark Noble’s long pass picked out the on-rushing Feghouli.

And having chested the ball down, the Algerian midfielder beat goalkeeper Axel Maraval with a low right-foot strike to put the game, and the tie, to bed.