West Ham United began their first season outside the Premier League in years with a 3-1 Carabao Cup victory over Portsmouth, though the headlines from the London Stadium were not confined to the pitch as former co-chairman David Sullivan attended despite being told not to.
A crowd of 53,369 - a record for a Carabao Cup first-round tie - watched the Hammers fall behind before storming back to win comfortably, sealing progress to round two where they will face opposition from the Premier League clubs not involved in European football this season.
Portsmouth took a surprise lead in the 33rd minute when Adrian Segecic controlled a loose clearance from Maximilian Kilman and struck a shot that deflected off the West Ham defender and beyond goalkeeper into the bottom corner. It was a moment that briefly threatened to overshadow West Ham's bid for an encouraging start to life in the Championship.
However, the hosts responded before half-time. Mohamadou Kanté created the equaliser with a clever cutback that Taty Castellanos steered home, and just two minutes later captain Jarrod Bowen pounced on a mis-controlled pass from Pablo before beating goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid with a deflected strike from distance to put West Ham ahead going into the break.
Castellanos completed his brace and sealed the win in the second half, heading in a cross from Bowen after good work down the flank from Kyle Walker-Peters. The result gave manager Nuno Espírito Santo a winning start as he prepares his squad for the rigours of Championship football, with a trip to Burnley up next in league action.
Despite the promising display, much of the pre-match attention centred on Sullivan, who took his seat shortly after kick-off wearing a dark jacket and flanked by security. The 77-year-old, who remains West Ham's largest shareholder with a 38.8% stake, resigned as co-chairman in June after seven women accused him of sexually exploitative and predatory behaviour in a joint investigation by BBC Panorama and The Times. Sullivan has strongly denied all the allegations, describing them as