New West Ham United manager David Moyes was among the 1,203 crowd at the London Stadium as goalkeeper Nathan Trott and his West Ham Under-23 team-mates went down 5-1 to Derby County yesterday.

The young Hammers had the opportunity to climb up to second place in the Premier League 2 first division, but found Derby too strong under the lights.

Moyes and his assistants watched from the stands as Trott conceded his first goal after just 28 seconds when striker Offrande Zanzala held off a challenge from Tinji Akinola before placing the ball across the Bermudian goalkeeper and inside the far post.

The home side threatened to equalise only for Luke Thomas to sweep past Trott at the other end to double the Derby lead after 21 minutes.

West Ham went close from three Sead Haksabanovic corners before the visitors added a third eight minutes before the break when Thomas’s shot came off the crossbar and Zanzala rolled the rebound past Trott.

Trott, an England Under-20 goalkeeper, was exposed again six minutes into the second half, but this time saved well from Alex Babos and Thomas, only for Charles Vernam and Jayden Bogle to follow up and score on each occasion to put Derby up 5-0.

Despite being five goals down, the shell-shocked young Hammers tried to give the scoreline some respectability, with Dan Kemp, Akinola and Haksabanovic all testing Joshua Barnes as Toni Martinez also went close, clipping the crossbar with a shot from 25 yards.

Substitute Grady Diangana finally got the home side on the scoresheet with a spectacular flying volley from Domingos Quina’s pass.

It was West Ham’s third defeat of the season with the young professionals, who were only promoted to the first division via the play-offs in the spring, with five wins in their first ten league games. They will look to rebound when they travel to play Arsenal next Friday evening.

In the meantime, however, the Under-23s will turn their attention to the Premier League International Cup and a mouth-watering clash with Portuguese giants Benfica, which will take place at Billericay Town’s AGP Arena on Tuesday.