EPL: West Ham 1-1 Stoke City

Andy Carroll (right) is congratulated after equalising late on for West Ham

Andy Carroll rescued a point for West Ham and denied Stoke a vital victory with a last-minute equaliser as the sides drew 1-1 at the London Stadium on Monday night.

Stoke had to wait until 79 minutes to make the breakthrough as Peter Crouch took advantage of a terrible mistake by West Ham goalkeeper Joe Hart with England manager Gareth Southgate watching on.

 

However, fellow substitute Carroll came off the bench to volley home Aaron Cresswell's inch-perfect cross to keep David Moyes' side seven points above 19th-placed Stoke in the race to avoid the drop.

 

It was a battle of the England 'keepers in a closely fought first 45 minutes, with Hart and Jack Butland both responsible for keeping the scoreline goalless at the break.

 

The Stoke No 1 was the busier, making excellent stops to keep out Arthur Masuaku, Cresswell and Marko Arnautovic, the latter a point-blank reaction save to deny his former team-mate.

 

Hart was also tested by efforts from both Moritz Bauer and Mame Biram Diouf, but after the interval, it was one-way traffic as West Ham stepped up a gear in search of the opener.

 

The home side were denied by the flag as Michael Oliver - making his first appearance since sending off Gianluigi Buffon in the Champions League on Wednesday - and his officiating team were sharp to spot that Arnautovic had twice strayed offside.

Stoke, however, were not without their own moments of promise, with Biram Diouf firing over from close range, before Crouch opened the scoring with 11 minutes to go in a moment Hart will want to forget.

 

The visitors worked the ball nicely around the West Ham box, before Xherdan Shaqiri tried his luck from just outside the area, only for Hart to spill the Swiss' low drive straight at Crouch's feet.

The substitute made no mistake from close range, but it was another player coming off the bench that had the final word as Carroll did brilliantly to guide a volley past Butland and earn the hosts a deserved draw.