Match report as West Ham reached the Europa Conference League group stages with a 6-1 aggregate win over Viborg; David Moyes' side won 3-0 in Denmark; Gianluca Scamacca, Said Benrahma and Tomas Soucek got the goals to seal West Ham's place in Friday's draw; draw takes place at 1.30pm
Thursday 25 August 2022 21:38, UK
West Ham rediscovered their goalscoring touch as they booked another European tour with a 3-0 win over Danish side Viborg.
The Hammers, without a point or a goal after three matches in the Premier League, ran out comfortable 6-1 winners on aggregate over the two legs of their qualifying play-off to reach the group stages of the Europa Conference League, and now boss David Moyes is targeting another successful European run after the club reached the semi-finals of the Erupa league last season.
"It is a special thing being in Europe and what makes it really special is that you don't get it very often," Moyes said.
"We tried really hard last year and we had a great run in it and now we'll obviously try and do the same in this competition."
Italy striker Gianluca Scamacca, the £30m signing from Sassuolo, opened the scoring midway through the first half with his second goal in two European appearances.
Said Benrahma and Tomas Soucek also found the net after the break to put the seal on an ultimately comfortable evening in front of 1,000 noisy travelling fans in Denmark.
Leading 3-1 from the first leg, last season's Europa League semi-finalists knew an early goal would settle any nerves and Soucek headed narrowly over from a corner before Scamacca's low first-time shot was saved.
The opening goal arrived after 22 minutes when full-back Ben Johnson fed Soucek on the right wing and the Czech midfielder's cross was expertly swept home by Scamacca at the near post.
Viborg almost equalised when former Leeds striker Jay-Roy Grot outstripped Manuel Lanzini and fizzed a shot narrowly wide.
Jakob Bonde, Viborg's goalscorer in east London, then planted a free header straight at Hammers keeper Alphonse Areola.
West Ham were living dangerously before half-time when Areola had to make a double save to deny Grot and Justin Lonwijk, but they doubled their lead six minutes into the second half when Benrahma ran on to Maxwel Cornet's through ball and slotted home.
It was three just after the hour mark when Soucek bundled home the rebound after Thilo Kehrer's header was blocked.
Cornet should have opened his West Ham account moments later when he was teed up by Benrahma but the summer signing from Burnley somehow lifted the ball over an open goal.
Nevertheless, it was a satisfying evening's work for Moyes' side and their fans, who will find out where their second straight European adventure will take them when the draw is made on Friday.
West Ham boss David Moyes:
"It is a special thing being in Europe and what makes it really special is that you don't get it very often.
"You can sometimes find people who treat it with a bit of disrespect, but I wanted to make sure we treat it with great respect because I want us to try and do well and compete in it. Now we've got another period of European football and playing games in places we've maybe not done before, so we look forward to it.
"The only way you get in Europe is if you do well in your domestic league, so we've done well in our domestic league the last couple of years. That got us in it, and I want to try and do well in it.
"We tried really hard last year and we had a great run in it and now we'll obviously try and do the same in this competition."
All eyes will be on the Europa Conference League group stage draw, which takes place on Friday at 1.30pm in Istanbul, Turkey.
On the field, the Hammers, who are still looking for their first league win of the season, travel to Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday; kick off 2pm.
