West Ham 2 Fulham 1: Manuel Lanzini and Ashley Fletcher goals claim bragging rights in Austria friendly

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Vaishali Bhardwaj20 July 2017

West Ham concluded the Austrian leg of their pre-season tour with a 2-1 win over London rivals Fulham thanks to goals from Manuel Lanzini and Ashley Fletcher.

Just minutes after West Ham confirmed a deal for Bayer Leverkusen striker Javier Hernandez on Thursday, Slaven Bilic led his side out to face Fulham in Austria, which marked the end to the Hammers' 11-day training camp in Austria.

The first chance of the game in Graz came through Cauley Woodrow, whose low effort was kept out by Darren Randolph before the Hammers reacted by launching a swift counter-attack, which ended in Fletcher teeing up Lanzini, who calmly stroked home from 20 yards out.

The forward - who shone for the Hammers following the departure of Dimitri Payet last season - then came close to bagging a brace when he latched onto Sofiane Feghouli's cross, turned and unleashed a fine shot that just flew wide of the far post.

West Ham were the better of the two sides in the first half, but Fulham did test the Hammers' defence when Floyd Ayite skilfully worked the ball past his marker to the feet of Sone Aluko, whose resulting effort was kept out by a brilliant save from Randolph.

But when David Button tried to dribble his way past Fletcher with the ball at his feet instead of clearing it in the 39th minute, Fulham found themselves 2-0 down.

Button appeared to be clipped by Fletcher as he attempted to get the ball out of the box but, with no whistle being blown, the West Ham striker won the ball and tapped it into an open net.

REUTERS

The second half of the friendly lacked the quality and, indeed, the intensity of the first as both managers made wholesale changes to their respective line-ups.

But Woodrow continued to prove a threat for Fulham after he sent a powerful effort from outside the box toward goal which substitute Adrian dived down to stop in the 66th minute.

The west Londoners pushed and pushed and were eventually rewarded with a goal when Ryan Sessegnon dribbled past Reece Burke before his toe-poke found the back of the net from a tight angle via a final touch from the lively Woodrow.

But they couldn't find the second goal they needed to at least salvage a draw, although Fulham will be happy with the second-half performance while West Ham will be pleased with the impact of the likes of Lanzini and Fletcher.

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