Goals from Kurt Zouma and Daniel Chesters were enough to see off Ipswich Town on Tuesday, with all of the Hammers’ starters getting 90 minutes under their belt, while Kieran McKenna replaced all ten of his outfield players by the hour mark.
The Tractor Boys finished last season in good form, with only four losses in the second half of the campaign, and will start this term as one of the favourites to get promoted to the Championship.
Warburton was effusive in his praise of the Hammers’ performance at Portman Road against Ipswich Town in a hard-fought 2-1 win and remarked that it was important for the West Ham players to get through 90 minutes out on the pitch.
“That was pleasing from so many aspects – the young boys had a chance to stake their claim and it was important to see the likes of Cressy, Mickey and Kurt and the boys all over the park get their 90 minutes into their legs”, Warburton told West Ham’s official website.
Warburton also noted that the upcoming games against Reading and Rangers will see West Ham pit their wits against opposition of a higher quality and advocated the need to be well prepared for those challenging fixtures.
“That’s vitally important now and we have Reading on Saturday and Rangers next Tuesday so the games start to ramp up now and we have to be prepared for each and every challenge”, he added.
West Ham qualified for European football for the second season running under David Moyes and will hope they can better their seventh-place finish in the Premier League in 2021/22.
