Full back Razvan Rat made his first start for the club and striker Mladen Petric came on from the bench to contribute to the Hammers’ second goal.
Speaking following the game both players admitted their sadness at the loss. “I’m disappointed, because I wanted it to be in a different way, to celebrate another game and to be happy,” said Rat. “But sometimes in football, you can’t win all the time. I’m really disappointed for my full game debut.”
Petric was in an equally downbeat mood, “It was a really tough loss,” he said. “When you go in front twice you shouldn’t give it away.
“We were a bit unlucky in the end with the red card and the two goals in the last ten minutes, so it was disappointing.