West Ham have opened their pre-season campaign with a narrow defeat in Switzerland.
Sam Allardyce - who took his side for the first time tonight - sent out an inexperienced team for the first game in the round-robin Uhrenchup tournament, a four team tournament in which each team plays two matches.West Ham - who touched down in Switzerland on Friday afternoon - began the game featuring just two players with more than a handful of first team appearances behind them, whilst triallists Hernani Rosa and Joey O'Brien both started.
All of the goals came in the opening half, with West Ham falling behind after 17 minutes when midfielder Marco Schneuwly scored from close range. However West Ham were level just four minutes later when young striker Frank Nouble reacted first to a Luis Boa Morte corner to head Allardyce's side level.
Both sides subsequently created chances to take the lead but it was the Swiss side - for whom victory saw them lift the Uhrencup having won their opening game of the tournament, 4-2 against Hertha Berlin - who did just that with six first half minutes left on the clock.
Danger man David Degen's corner was converted by Francois Affolter; West Ham's problems defending set-pieces still clearly evident for all to see.
Allardyce and his newly-assembled backroom team made several changes during the second half although the vast majority of his more experienced players - the likes of Mark Noble, Kevin Nolan, Scott Parker and Carlton Cole - all failed to make an appearance.
Although there were no further goals after the break - Young Boys going closet to adding one when they hit the post shortly after the restart - Allardyce will no doubt be pleased with a performance that is likely to tell him a lot more about his squad than he knew before the game.
Next up for West Ham is the clash with FC Basel here on Wednesday night.
Our man on the spot: Brian Evans reports from Switzerland
"First, the caveats. This was our first run-out of the season and we were up against a Young Boys side that were several weeks ahead of our lads in terms of preperation. Also, the side put out by Allardyce was a mixture of youth, experience and a couple of triallists.
On a positive note, despite enduring relegation last term, the Hammers faithful turned out in decent numbers (which I estimated at around 300), a figure which needs to be viewed in the context of what some clubs bought to the Boleyn last season. Some clubs put up a statue for less, but that's what happens if you spend time with young boys...
Ruud Boffin played the entire 90 minutes between the sticks and did ok, which cannot be said for one or two in front of him. Jordan Brown at full back appears not to have progressed too much in the last year; not suprising given the six months he's had out injured but he needs a spell on loan to develop his game.
Faye looked rusty and the triallist Pozilian did insufficient in my view to impress, whereas Faubert looked a little more assured.
The two goals conceded in the first half were both as a result of the same kind of defensive errors we saw all too frequently last season and the passionate and animated Sam Allardyce, waching his first game in charge of West Ham, won't have been pleased with what he saw in defence.
At the other end of the pitch we saw the impressive Montano and Nouble combining well a few times to create a few chances but it was a bit of quick thinking by George Moncur, taking a short corner with Luis Boa Morte (playing up front) to deliver a cross from which Nouble headed confidently to level the scores at one each.
The second half was all one way traffic with the withdrawl of Joey O'Brien taking the steel from the midfield. Young Olly Lee struggled to adjust to the pace of the game whilst the arrival of the impressive Hall gave the side some much-needed threat going forward. But other than one shot he smacked against the post, we showed little threat.
Robert Hall, Christian Montano and Ruud Boffin were the pick of the youngsters."
Young Boys 2 West Ham Utd 1: Match Facts
West Ham United: Boffin, Faubert (Spence 46), Brown (Ilunga 62), Hernani, Faye (Tomkins 46), Sears, O'Brien (Lee 46), Moncur, Montano, Boa Morte (Hall 46), Nouble (Piquionne 46).
Subs not used: Stech, Reid, Stanislas.
Goals: Nouble (21).
BSC Young Boys: Wolfi (Benito 46), Silberbauer (Farnerud 72), Schneuwly, Costanzo, Ben Khalifa (Raimondi 46), Zverotic, Spycher (Alioski 46), Affolter, Degen (Tosetti 78), Veskovac, Doubai (Mayuka 46).
Goals: Schneuwly (17), Affolter (39).
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