IT was perhaps ironic that West Ham s first team squad travelled to Austria last week for some warm weather training and tactical preparation, only to see their friendly clash with Werder Bremen called off because of a waterlogged pitch. The game against

IT was perhaps ironic that West Ham's first team squad travelled to Austria last week for some warm weather training and tactical preparation, only to see their friendly clash with Werder Bremen called off because of a waterlogged pitch.

The game against the Germans was abandoned on Saturday morning after torrential rain in Bad Waltersdorf made the pitch unplayable.

The Hammers take on Turkish outfit Bursaspor today (Wednesday) and Slovenian side ND Mura 05 just the other side of the Austrian border on Thursday, before returning home.

Two summers ago, West Ham's trip to Austria resulted in serious injuries to both Julien Faubert and Scott Parker, this time round it seems they are having difficulties getting on the park at all!

A young West Ham team will travel to Thurrock on Friday night for a 7.45pm kick off, while the first team travel to China over the weekend, taking on Spurs in Beijing next Wednesday (11am London time) in their first match of the Asia Cup.