Celtic 2-6 West Ham: Antonio double inspires happy Hammers

West Ham blew Celtic away at a sunny Parkhead with a six-goal demolition of the Scottish Premiership side in their pre-season friendly.  

Two first-half goals from Michail Antonio in his new No 9 shirt put the Hammers in charge after the home side had taken an early lead through Callum McGregor. 

A Mark Noble penalty made it 3-1 before the break but early in the second half Ryan Christie bundled a goal back for the hosts.

The comeback was short-lived as within four minutes Said Benrahma stretched West Ham's lead to 4-2, before Jarrod Bowen and Armstrong Okoflex compounded Celtic's misery with two late goals. 

West Ham boss David Moyes is never one to get too carried away, especially with the result of a pre-season friendly, but acknowledged it was a good workout for his team.

"I’m pleased because we started to get a wee bit of rhythm with some of our play," Moyes said. 

"We’re a bit behind the Scottish teams in our preparation and obviously we’re waiting on quite a few players coming back as well."

West Ham lined up with their strongest possible starting XI, minus their Euro 2020 stars Declan Rice, Tomas Soucek, Vladimir Coufal and Andriy Yarmolenko. 

The absence of that powerful Rice-Soucek axis in midfield was evident in the opening minutes. McGregor capitalised on Manuel Lanzini's hesitation from a throw-in to rob the ball and curl a beautifully placed shot past Lukasz Fabianski for 1-0. 

Although West Ham looked a little light through the centre, their approach play always carried menace and on 23 minutes they were level.

Mark Noble fed the ball through to Antonio and with Celtic keeper Vasilis Barkas straying from his line in an attempt to help his defence, the West Ham No 9 stroked the ball into the far corner of the goal. 

Just after the half-hour mark West Ham were ahead. Pablo Fornals crafted a peach of a pass for the onrushing Antonio whose bustling pace took him into the penalty area before unleashing a drive that beat Barkas at his near post. 

The Hammers were now firmly in control and after Antonio was upended by Ismaila Soro before the break, Noble stepped up to do what Noble does best, coolly slotting his penalty past Barkas.

Early in the second half Christie gave Celtic some hope when his close-range effort was fumbled over the line by West Ham's substitute keeper Darren Randolph.

Within minutes it was 4-2 to the visitors, Fornals again the architect with a crossfield ball to Benrahma. 

The Algerian international shaped to shoot with his right foot, outfoxing keeper Scott Bain, before cutting inside to his left to stroke the ball into an empty goal. 

A delightful flick from Jarrod Bowen on 74 minutes made it 5-2 and there was worse to come for the increasingly unhappy Celtic crowd. 

Armstrong Okoflex, 19, arrived as a late substitute for West Ham just four weeks after his transfer from the hosts. 

His cleverly placed diagonal shot across goal just before the final whistle escaped Bain’s clutches for 6-2, prompting a chorus of boos from the Parkhead regulars. 

David Moyes, West Ham manager

"We got a lot of goals so that was good from that point of view. 

"But we needed a workout and we were pretty good for periods of the first half and it was a really tough game. 

"At the start of the second half Celtic were better for 10 or 15 minutes and then we got our fourth goal after they’d made it 3-2. After that the game more or less ended.

"Overall it was a great workout for us as it was another tough game. 

"We had a couple of really big chances before we scored. Jarrod had a one-v-one and so did Michy Antonio so we’d had opportunities.

"I’m pleased because we started to get a wee bit of rhythm with some of our play.

"We’re a bit behind the Scottish teams in our preparation and obviously we’re waiting on quite a few players coming back as well.

"Europe will be new for a lot of the players but we did a lot of good things today and we scored the goals which was really pleasing."