Hammers edge past Stoke

Stoke's Christmas blues continued with a late defeat at West Ham on Sunday.

Late Tristan winner esures West Ham end year on high

Stoke's Christmas blues continued with a late defeat at West Ham which saw Ricardo Fuller sent off for fighting with team-mate Andy Griffin. Abdoulaye Faye scored an early header to put the visitors ahead at Upton Park after some slack West Ham defending. But Carlton Cole levelled the scores by grabbing his second goal in three days in the 51st minute, before playing a part in the winner, when his shot found the back of the net courtesy of a deflection off substitute Diego Tristan. It gave manager Gianfranco Zola his second win in three days and propels West Ham into the top half, but in contrast Stoke have not won in six games and have slipped worryingly close to the relegation zone just three points from bottom. Shorn of the suspended Craig Bellamy, who scored twice in the 4-1 Boxing Day win at Portsmouth, West Ham's attack initially lacked sharpness. Zola also had to make three other changes because of injury, with Julien Faubert, David Di Michele and James Collins replacing Calum Davenport, Mark Noble and Lucas Neill. Stoke made two changes to the team which lost to Manchester United, with Griffin back after an ankle injury to replace the suspended Andy Wilkinson and Seyi Olofinjana brought in for Amdy Faye. West Ham have taken just one point from their last six home games, and their poor run at the Upton Park looked set to continue when Stoke scored after four minutes.

Slack defending

Fuller tested goalkeeper Robert Green after capitalising on a sloppy pass from Luis Boa Morte, and from the resulting corner an unmarked Faye headed home at the far post. Cole had a glorious chance to equalise immediately after the restart but sidefooted Jack Collison's left-wing cross wide, and Matthew Upson also headed wide in the opening exchanges. Green had to stretch to catch Richard Cresswell's lobbed shot and at the other end Thomas Sorensen made his first save when he got down to comfortably stop Collison's low effort. West Ham spent long spells camped in and around Stoke's penalty area but a combination of inaccuracy and Sorensen's athleticism kept them at bay. He did well to claw Herita Ilunga's teasing left-wing cross away from the lurking Cole, who minutes earlier had volleyed way over the bar from just inside the box.

Waste

The striker then wasted the Hammers' best chance of the half when he headed over following excellent work on the right from the diminutive Di Michele. As half-time approached, Boa Morte and Ilunga combined brilliantly on the left but the latter's cross blazed across goal, somehow evading a number of team-mates. Olofinjana had the first chance of the second half when he dragged a shot wide from distance, but West Ham resumed their domination soon after and scored a deserved equaliser in the 51st minute. There was an element of fortune as Cole controlled Scott Parker's chip into the box, the ball bouncing off a defender, but there was nothing lucky about the finish. Too often criticised for his profligacy in front of goal, Cole swivelled on the loose ball to curl a shot past Sorensen into the far corner.

Ludicrous

A moment of madness then followed as Stoke went back for the restart. Fuller and Griffin became embroiled in a heated exchange which descended into pushing and shoving and resulted in Fuller being sent off by referee Michael Jones for throwing a punch at his team-mate. Galvanised by their goal and unexpected numerical advantage, West Ham poured forward and could have gone ahead but Cole volleyed wide and Parker and Di Michele both fired over. West Ham continued to pressurise with Boa Morte's scuffed shot cleared off the line by Danny Higginbotham and Parker screwing a shot wide from outside the box. In a rare foray forward, Delap tested Green with a low shot, but a minute later West Ham finally breached the defence-minded Stoke when substitute Diego Tristan deflected in Cole's shot for the winner.

West Ham United	Team Statistics	Stoke City
2	Goals	1
0	1st Half Goals	1
5	Shots on Target	4
10	Shots off Target	3
7	Blocked Shots	3
8	Corners	4
12	Fouls	15
2	Offsides	0
3	Yellow Cards	3
0	Red Cards	1
79.7	Passing Success	63.4
19	Tackles	24
78.9	Tackles Success	83.3
66.2	Possession	33.8
59.4	Territorial Advantage	40.6