West Ham United have had several players involved at international level within the previous few days, but it was frustrating for the majority of the Irons, who had to sit and watch from the bench.

Cheikhou Kouyate opened the scoring for Senegal, with a terrific finish, and helped his team to a 2-0 away win at Namibia as part of the qualification process for the Africa Cup of Nations 2017 tournament. Fellow countryman Diafra Sakho came on as a substitute in the second half.

Stephen Hendrie was an unused sub for the Scotland U21s, as they beat the Northern Ireland U21s 2-1. Goalkeeper Sam Howes also had to sit on the sidelines for the England U19s.

Another shot-stopper who didn’t get to play was Darren Randolph, who watched from the bench as the Republic of Ireland boosted their chances of appearing at Euro 2016 next summer, with an away win against minnows Gibraltar.

James Collins was another unused sub, in spite of a promising result, with the Wales senior side winning in Cyprus thanks to a goal from Gareth Bale.

However, there was some playing time for a couple of the Academy boys. Josh Cullen started for the Republic of Ireland U21s, and played for sixty minutes as they won 4-1 in a friendly.

Vashon Neufville also started his encounter, representing the England U17s, who succumbed to a 7-3 loss against the Portugal U17s.