West Ham 1 Stoke City 1: Andy Carroll goal rescues Hammers in Premier League relegation battle at London Stadium

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Vaishali Bhardwaj16 April 2018

Andy Carroll spared West Ham's blushes as his added-time goal rescued a point for the Hammers against Stoke City at the London Stadium on Monday night.

In a nervy game between two clubs fighting against the drop, it was Stoke who opened the scoring in the 79th minute when Xherdan Shaqiri's powerful, long-range effort was parried out by Joe Hart, which allowed substitute Peter Crouch to fire in from close range.

West Ham had seemed in control before the strike - with the hosts having two goals ruled out for offside - and they managed to fight their way back into the game with Carroll's sweet volley in the 90th minute.

The Hammers had another goal then disallowed, but they held on to secure a 1-1 comeback draw that moves them into 14th place - seven points above the drop zone - while Stoke remain stuck in 19th place.

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After going to Stamford Bridge and securing a 1-1 draw against champions Chelsea last weekend, Moyes and his West Ham side had their eyes firmly fixed on the visit of Stoke because of the importance of the game in terms of the fight against relegation.

Stoke were in desperate need of all three points, with the Potters coming into the game languishing in 19th place, while the Hammers sat in 15th place - six points above the drop zone.

With Huddersfield and Crystal Palace both winning at the weekend, West Ham knew that victory on Monday would move them one step closer to survival.

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And, indeed, it seemed the game plan for both sides was to get an early goal - with Jack Butland being forced to save from Arthur Masuaku in just the third minute and Joe Hart having to deal with Joe Allen's long-range effort.

Marko Arnautovic, playing against his former side and being booed by the travelling Stoke fans every time he touched the ball, was West Ham's brightest spark in an otherwise dull first-half.

The Austrian first drove a low shot wide of the far post just after the half-hour mark before his close-range effort, set up by Pablo Zabaleta, was kept out of the visiting goal - by Butland's face.

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Neither manager made a change at the break, with Stoke threatening just minutes into the second period when Shaqiri latched onto a cut-back but, instead of going for goal, tried to play one of his teammates in.

Unfortunately for the Stoke forward, no one was there to fire the ball in from close range, which allowed West Ham to clear the danger.

As the game progressed, and the score-line stood at 0-0, the sense of anxiety in the home end was clear to sense - with some supporters near the press box shouting at their team to either go for goal or clear the ball.

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And the urgency from the home fans seemed to rub off on the players, with Aaron Cresswell's long-ball into the area being delicately headed past Butland by Arnautovic - only for the offside flag to deny the forward the opener.

Stoke reacted straight away when a through-ball found Moritz Bauer, whose cut-back was then latched onto by Mame Biram Diouf although he fired over the bar despite being just in front of the goal.

West Ham upped their tempo and saw another goal chalked off, this time, because an offside Arnautovic was deemed to have interfered with play as Edimilson Fernandes' low shot flew into the goal.

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The hosts were in the ascendancy and, sensing his side could secure all three points with added firepower up front, Javier Hernandez - who scored the equaliser against Chelsea last weekend - was sent on.

But instead of West Ham scoring, it was Stoke who did so - after an error from Hart.

The goalkeeper failed to claim Shaqiri's long-range effort, which allowed Crouch to fire the ball in from a few yards out.

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Moyes reacted by sending on Manuel Lanzini and Carroll - who, playing in his first game since January, made the difference when he stroked home Aaron Cresswell's cross to rescue a point for West Ham.

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