West Ham Utd 1-1 Stoke City

  • by Staff Writer
  • Saturday, 11th April 2015

West Ham's propensity to concede late goals cost them a further two points against Stoke at the Boleyn this afternoon.

With virtually a full-strength squad to choose from, there can be few excuses tonight after Sam Allardyce's side conceded a goal five minutes into added-on time thus costing them two vital Premier League points.

That it took the visitors so long to score was perhaps the biggest surprise on a day when the Hammers were distinctly second best; they can perhaps consider themselves somewhat fortunate to have taken anything from the game despite having led it for 87 minutes.

When Marko Arnautovic finally scored Stoke's 95th-minute equaliser, the Potters had already had the ball in the net twice already - only to see both efforts ruled out by hapless referee Roger East and his equally woeful assistants.

That they found themselves behind was due to a wonderful piece of individual skill from left-back Aaron Cresswell, who surprised Stoke 'keeper Asmir Begovic by curling a 25-yard free kick into the far top corner, rather than around the wall as expected.

But once again that promising start failed to prove sufficient, as the Hammers contrived to throw away yet more points in the closing stages of a game. Arnautovic's last-gasp strike was the 20th conceded by the Hammers in the final third of a half this season from a total of 40 - exactly 50 per cent.

We'll have a full match report for you soon.

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