West Ham's reserves hit their Birmingham City counterparts for six tonight, in a match that saw the return of Valon Behrami, as well as the debuts of four new signings.
What will probably be pleasing the 1,200 or so Hammers fans in attendance at Upton Park, however, will be the performance of new Italian striker, Alessandro Diamanti.
The 26-year-old arrival from Livorno put in a virtuoso display, scoring a stunning free kick in each half to bag a brace and showed throughout an array of tricks, eye for a through ball and awesome left peg to ping out his passes that promise to make him an Upton Park favourite.
While the fact this performance was only against a feeble Birmingham reserve side should not be forgotten, there was certainly enough to suggest Hammers boss Gianfranco Zola finally has found quality support for lone front-man Carlton Cole.
What will also not be lost on Zola was the hat-trick of youngster Zavon Hines, who put in another encouraging display, following on from his crucial Carling Cup winner versus Millwall.
Hines opened the scoring in spectacular fashion within the opening five minutes, cutting in from the right hand side of the box, before unleashing an unstoppble left-foot drive which found the the roof of the net via the Brum keeper Doyle's near post. It was to be a busy night for the Birmingham glove man.
Not long later, West Ham were so nearly two goals to the good when Diamanti delivered an outswinging corner from the left which was met by the head of Frank Nouble who was unlucky to see his header smack the bar and eventually bounce to safety.
Howeever, the Hammers attack was not to be denied.
Half way through the first half, Birmingham failed to clear another Diamanti corner, finding centre-half Bondz N'Gala on the edge of the area. With the rest of his team mates expecting a cross, N'Gala bought himself a yard and curled in a magnificent 20 yard pearler into the top-left corner in true Beckham-like fashion.
The Forest Gate raised academy graduate certianly enjoyed the moment, racing towards the corner flag to be mobbed by his shocked team mates, although he regained his composure in time to do a pre-rehearsed jig with Frank Nouble.
With Birmingham offering little, West Ham smelt blood.
Diamanti was now getting into his stride, gleefully accepting the silky passes of Josh Payne, ducking this way and that leaving Brum defenders in his wake. The Italian would seem happy to go alone and look to provide in equal measure, regularly finding room to deliver wicked left-foot crosses at pace or to drive through the middle and unleash thunderous drives on goal.
One such effort brought about a smart save from Birmingham's number two, diving low to his left on 30 minutes.
Diamanti did not have to wait long before success. Arriving in east London aleady with a reputation as a dead-ball specialist, it took only his first attempt to prove the rep was warranted.
25 yards out on the right hand corner of the box, identical to where Hines had previously scored, Diamanti whipped his left-footed shot up and over the wall into the net in the blink of an eye with the Brum keeper still rooted to the spot. The Dr Martens lower was brought to it's feet in celebration, finally a we have a free-kick taker! The Di Canio resemblence was already apparent - and rightly so.
With Birmingham on the ropes, West Ham were not about to show any mercy.
Number four arrived within five minutes as Swiss left-back Daprela, our new 18 year old signing from Grasshoppers Zurich, overlapped well firing in a low cross which was brought under control brilliantly by Hines, who with work still to do, nudged the ball past the attention of the Brum centre halves to poke under Doyle to secure his brace.
4-0 at half-time.
Valon Behrami was removed from the action before the hour mark, having given a typical all action and energetic display, highlighted with delightful back-heel in the centre of the park having received a pass from defence which sent Hines clean through on 55 minutes.
Hines did secure his hat-trick when Diamanti found the young Jamaican in acres of space before showing the Brum defence a clean pair of heels and clinicly finishing past Doyle. The goal was the icing on the cake of an eye-catching performance for Hines, who will now hope for some first-team action at Wigan this weekend.
The rout was complete was Diamanti stepped up for a dead-ball special again, whipping in a free-kick from left hand side of the box and inside the keeper's near post, who was pehaps expecting a cross judging the crowded penalty area. The goal was a mirror image to a Di Canio special versus Watford when he caught the legendary number 10 caught out vetran Alec Chamberlain in 1999.
6-0 and game well and truly over.
The three debuts in defence of Da Costa, Daprela and Ferrari will certainly have to wait a little longer before having any form of judgement passed due to the opposition with all three largely redundant throughout. When called upon, each was solid enough.
The 17-year-old Ferrari was removed with 20 minutes to go, having swapped psoitions with Daprela at half-time, an interesting tactic by Alex Dyer, perhaps under instruction from Zola ensure the versaility of our new full-backs, should the need arise.
Payne looked promising in midfield, showing he is a classy performer, with Scott Parker-like close control and a deft pass in his locker, and will also be hoping to involved in the Wigan squad, while the all-but-forgotten Nigel Quashie, while seemingly a few pounds heavier than his last seen 2007 days, worked hard and did shine against the poor opposition.
Pehaps the watching Millwall manager Kenny Jackett will be interested?
Behrami did what Behrami does - he has hassled and hurried the Midlanders to good effect and his energy will be a welcome return to the first team set up.
But what will have every Hammers fan now eagerly waiting in anticipation is to see whether Alessandro Diamanti can transfer this kind of form to the Premier League proper.
If he can, ladies and gentleman, we have a have a new hero.
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