Soccer Football - Europa League - Group A - West Ham United v TSC Backa Topola - London Stadium, London, Britain - September 21, 2023 West Ham United's Michail Antonio in action with TSC Backa Topola's Milan Radin and Sasa Jovanovic Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Couldridge
LONDON (Reuters) - An own goal by Backa Topola's Nemanja Petrovic helped West Ham United recover from a goal down to clinch a 3-1 home win over the Serbian side in a Europa League group stage match on Thursday.
Despite dominating ball possession and 15 attempts in the first half, West Ham were unable to break the deadlock before halftime against competition debutants who are playing European football for just the second time.
Things went from bad to worse for the hosts when midfielder Petar Stanic gave Backa a shock lead after the break as he capitalised on an error by West Ham defence and made it 1-0 after a solo run.
But Backa defender Petrovic failed to protect their advantage when he scored an own goal in the 66th minute before West Ham midfielder Mohammed Kudus scored for the London side with a header and substitute Tomas Soucek sealed the win.
(Reporting by Anita Kobylinska in Gdansk, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
