NK Domzale 2-1 West Ham United

Mark Noble's penalty gave West Ham an away goal that could be crucial in next week's second leg

West Ham endured a tricky start to their season as they lost to NK Domzale in the first leg of their Europa League third round qualifier in Slovenia.

Mark Noble's penalty cancelled out Matic Crnic's spot-kick for the hosts, but the Premier League side faded.

Crnic curled home a second, and Adrian had to save well from Amedej Vetrih to prevent a bigger margin of defeat.

Next week's second leg will be the first competitive game played at the Olympic Stadium, West Ham's new home.

• Relive West Ham's defeat in Slovenia

The match looks set to be a sell-out, played in front of more than 50,000 fans.

Noble's penalty has given West Ham an away goal that means a 1-0 win in the home leg will take them through.

But, in front of barely 3,000 in Ljubljana - the game was moved from the home of Domzale, they looked well short of match sharpness.

Crnic and Noble exchanged early penalties - with Domzale's awarded for a Havard Nordtveit handball and West Ham's for a foul on Winston Reid.

The Hammers were without last season's standout player Dimitri Payet, and while new signing Sofiane Feghouli enjoyed an impressive start, he barely had a touch in the second half.

Michail Antonio was at fault for Crnic's second goal and looked fragile all night, while former Leeds full-back Sam Byram looked makeshift on the left.

First-choice Aaron Cresswell is set to be out for four months with a knee injury and Bilic may need to enter the transfer market before the start of the season.

West Ham assistant manager Nikola Jurcevic:

"Our performance was not so good, and maybe I can say it was average in the first half and it was 1-1. We were not satisfied with this result and in the second half we played badly.

"I am sure we will be better next week. It will be very difficult but I'm optimistic and I hope it will be a different game in the Olympic Stadium.

"We must be better. We must win this game in our stadium because we also have big ambitions in Europe, but it will be very tough because Domzale showed they are a good team."