"It was too late for us to do anything and we had more than 2,000 spectators at the match.

"The players were disappointed and we were disappointed big time. West Ham do use our facilities a lot and as a club we feel aggrieved.

"But I feel sorry for the kids who went to see the likes of Joe Cole or Michael Carrick."

One angry Hammers fan, who declined to be named, said the Premiership side had not earned any brownie points with fans.

"A lot of people came down here expecting to see a number of first team players," he said.

"Last year Paolo Di Canio, Freddie Kanoute and Nigel Winterburn were here but there were no big names on Friday.

"West Ham have a lot of fans in this neck of the woods and they will be annoyed at what has happened."

The Irons won 7-0 at Bishops Stortford, where first teamers Joe Cole, Kanoute, Winterburn, Svetoslav Todorov and Paul Kitson were playing.

No stars - West Ham sent a youth team to play Ryman Premier side Purfleet

Picture: STEVE O'CONNELL

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.