West Ham 1 Accrington Stanley 0

But while Bonds, who played for and managed West Ham, is not the biggest fan of the London Stadium, he feels there is no point complaining as it is going to be the club’s home for the foreseeable future.

It was the travelling Stanley fans who made all the noise early on and John Coleman’s side responded with a bright start on the pitch.

The Hammers saw off Accrington Stanley 1-0 with a late clincher from talisman Dimitri Payet.

West Ham United legend Billy Bonds has blasted the former Olympic stadium the team has moved into this season, likening it to an island in the middle of nowhere.

“The main thing is to go through”, said Bilic. Alvaro Arbeloa slots in at right back, while Pedro Obiang will look to boss the midfield.

Parents could be seen cradling their young children while men fought amongst them, with fans swearing and jostling, around 50 minutes into the match.

Inside the first three minutes they had strung together a neat passing move from one side of the London Stadium pitch to the other which ended with Jordan Clark teeing up captain Seamus Conneely, but his 20-yard shot was held by a diving Darren Randolph.

“It’s just like watching Brazil”, chanted the Stanley supporters as the yellow-shirts and blue shorts of the visitors continued to match their Premier League opponents, stride-for-stride and tackle-for-tackle, while brave-heart Pearson again put his head in where it hurts to deny Zaza and ensure that it remained goalless at the break.

Dimitri Payet and Manuel Lanzini were thrown on at half-time in a desperate bid to lift the Hammers.

With a quarter-hour remaining, Zaza thought he had broken the deadlock but Parish blocked the Italian’s point-blank shot with his knees, while Lanzini and Antonio were off-target from further out.

Next Donacien couldn’t quite poke a scrambled corner past Randolph, before McConville curled over after good work from Kee and substitute Chris Eagles.