Blues boss Gareth Ainsworth said he was proud of his players for going toe-to-toe with Premier League side West Ham United in their narrow 1-0 loss in Saturday’s opening pre-season friendly.
Two experimental line-ups for each half, including five trialists, came up against a star-studded Hammers outfit including big money summer signings Issa Diop and Andriy Yarmolenko, but the Chairboys came close to snatching a draw after carving out a series of second-half chances in a bid to cancel out Marko Arnautovic’s opener.
Ryan Allsop denied Pablo Zabaleta with a smart stop before Arnautovic broke the deadlock before the interval, which saw Gareth Ainsworth make 11 changes to his side.
Snodgrass saw a shot deflected over the top and Angelo Ogbonna headed off-target before Wanderers stepped up the pace and were denied an equaliser by a wonderful save from Spanish keeper Adrian, tipping Paris Cowan-Hall’s curling effort round the post.
Then a trialist volleyed narrowly over and Adrian was called into action again to tip Anthony Stewart’s header wide, before two late scrambles in the box were cleared by the Hammers as they held on to victory in their first game in the UK under Manuel Pellegrini’s leadership.
Ainsworth said: “We got what we wanted which was to get minutes out of the boys, but on top of that I’m proud of my team for keeping a Premier League side to just one goal.
“There was a lot of money out there on the pitch in the away team but we matched them for chances and could’ve nicked a draw. They’ve got a great manager and they’ll push on from here, but for me all the signs were encouraging,"
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