Matchday Video:Defiant Bilic Bounces Back

Our first home game of the season seemed an awful long time in coming and it was fantastic to see so many familiar faces on the pre-match boats and in the ground. I’ve had a season to get to know a few of the people around me and it was good to see that so many of the season ticket holders had renewed.

We’re in block 229 on the same side of the ground as the away fans and it always seemed like last season most of our goals  were scored at the other end of the pitch. It looks as though that trend is set to continue although we’ll not be complaining if we can start to climb the table and get a few points at home.

The stadiumIt did seem more familiar too although not in an Upton Park sort of a way but we’re getting used to the area and have an established pre-game ritual now. I’m sure that if it feels more familiar to us then it will certainly be the same for the players which is exactly what everybody needs. It would have felt like a foreign venue last season and the team need to start thinking of it as home

The atmosphere was never really loud at any point last night but nor did it turn toxic although there were some grumbles (myself included), when the poorly deployed Javier Hernandez was subbed and also a few boo’s when Diafra Sakho was introduced.

All in all it was a decent start to our home campaign and I’m quite confident that as long as we can avoid defeat against West Brom there will be a decent level of noise inside the ground for the visit of Tottenham.