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It finished honors even in the relegation scrap at the London Stadium.<\/p>\nIt finished honors even in the relegation scrap at the London Stadium.<\/p>\n
Substitute Peter Crouch fired Stoke ahead at the London Stadium with a little over 10 minutes remaining to hand the Potters what looked like a lifeline in their battle to beat the drop.<\/p>\n
West Ham had seen two goals ruled out for offside – both Marko Arnautovic and Edmilson Fernandes were denied the honour of opening the scoring – in the second half before Crouch struck.<\/p>\n
The former England striker was well placed to smash the ball into the net after Hammers goalkeeper Joe Hart fumbled a save from Xherdan Shaqiri.<\/p>\n
West Ham’s leveler came from their own substitute, Andy Carroll, who made it 1-1 on the stroke of full-time with a left-footed finish from Aaron Cresswell’s cross.<\/p>\n
Javier Hernandez soon rifled home what might have been a Hammers winner, but Carroll had handballed and no goal was given.<\/p>\n
Crouch bemoaned the loss of two vital points as Paul Lambert’s Stoke missed a chance to close to within three of 17th-placed Swansea.<\/p>\n
He told Sky Sports Main Event: “We had five minutes left (when Carroll scored) and it would have been a vital win for us, but coming here and getting the draw is still a good result.<\/p>\n
“It would have done us the world of good to get the three points but it was a great finish by Andy.<\/p>\n
“Since this manager’s come in we’ve shown a lot of character and have stopped shipping goals.<\/p>\n
“There’s winnable games left and if we win three of them then who knows what will happen?”<\/p>\n
West Ham’s goalscorer Carroll reflected on the last-gasp handball that put paid to a potential winner from Hernandez.<\/p>\n
He said: “It was disappointing for us as we’d had a few other chances and a few goals disallowed.<\/p>\n
“I tried to bring it down and it did hit my hand but it was because of a shove in the box which might even have been a penalty.”<\/p>\n