West Ham United have slumped to their first defeat of pre-season, falling to a 1-0 loss at the hands of Colchester United at the Weston Homes Community Stadium this evening.
The visitors created the opening chance of the night after just seven minutes when they worked the ball around the area, only for Josh Cullen to send his effort onto the roof of the net.
Colchester went ahead just six minutes after that opportunity when former Hammers trainee George Moncur placed a free kick into the top corner from 20 yards, leaving Raphael Spiegel with no chance.
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The hosts continued to impress against their more illustrious opponents, and the lively Moncur almost doubled his personal tally five minutes before the break when his effort from the edge of the box was saved.
West Ham, being led by Terry Westley instead of Slaven Bilic due to the main bulk of the first team gearing up for the second leg of their Europa League qualifier with Birkirkara, responded in the second half and came close within five minutes of the restart through Jordan Brown's strike.
However, back came Colchester again and the League One outfit should have doubled their advantage with just 25 minutes remaining when Alex Gilbey found himself through on goal, only for Spiegel to make an important stop.
They came even closer to a second goal in the 86th minute, with Gilbey this time turning provider as his cross was nodded against the post by Samuel Szmodics.
They were forced to settle for just the one goal, however, comfortably seeing out the victory in the closing stages.
Barney Corkhill
