West Ham United 2 - 1 Stoke City

Late West Ham showing compound Stoke's woes

Updated: December 28, 2008, 4:26 PM UK

Stoke's miserable Christmas continued with a late defeat at West Ham which saw Ricardo Fuller sent off for taking a swipe at skipper Andy Griffin.

• Redknapp infuriated by ref

Abdoulaye Faye scored an early header to put the visitors ahead at the Boleyn Ground.

But Carlton Cole scored his second goal in three days in the 51st minute to equalise, and then had a hand in the winner, his shot going in courtesy of a deflection off Diego Tristan.

It gave manager Gianfranco Zola his second win in three days and propels West Ham up the league table, but in contrast Stoke have not won in six games and have slipped worringly close to the relegation zone.

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 Boleyn Ground looked set to continue when Stoke scored after four minutes.

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.

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.

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.

Redknapp infuriated by ref

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp launched a stinging attack on referee Steve Tanner after his side's defeat.

''I couldn't even put into words what I thought of his performance,'' said the Spurs boss. ''When I walked into the referees' room before the game and saw who was reffing the game I knew what was coming.

''I expected that and it didn't surprise me at all. I've had him many times before and I know what he is like - he really isn't good enough. He is just a poor referee unfortunately and I've seen him make a mess of so many games before.

''I saw him when I was in the Championship and I thought to myself then 'Where has he come from?'. I never walk in after game and complain about a referee but this guy today is scary.

''What can you do? Someone thinks he is good enough but he is definitely not.''

Perversely, Redknapp thought the referee was right to send off Assou-Ekotto.

''I thought it was a sending-off. I thought he turned his back, he put his foot in and I could see why he sent him off,'' he added.

West Brom manager Tony Mowbray did not want to criticise the official. ''I have no comment on the referee. Some games as a coach you sit there and have thoughts but I've not been as brave as Harry and said anything,'' he said.

''I think we all abide by the officials. We agree with some decisions, we don't agree with others. Some of them are crucial decisions and some are niggly little fouls.

''The bottom line is you hope to get the big ones right. I was very surprised when a red card was given but the referee saw it was and you have to live with that.

''If I thought there was a push [on Dawson] I would be sitting here saying I thought we got away with it today but I didn't see any pushes.''

West Ham boss Gianfranco Zola was delighted to see his team take maximum points from two games in three days over Christmas.

It was the Hammers' first league victory at home since September, with the six home matches since the defeat of Newcastle yielding just one point.

''I think it tells you a lot about the attitude of the players and the willingness to succeed,'' he said. ''It was a well-deserved victory.

''It was very difficult because confidence here at our ground was low and we went down after a few minutes against a team notoriously difficult to break down.

''This is a big, big turning point for us. The crowd was a bit nervous but after the early goal they reacted perfectly.

''We had six or seven chances to score and at half-time I told them we were going to win if we kept playing like this.''

Zola paid tribute to striker Cole for scoring one goal and setting up another and is pleased his extra one-to-one tuition on finishing is paying off.

''It's not down to me, it's all him,'' Zola added. ''He kept working and having belief and he's getting the rewards he deserves. Even if he doesn't score he gives something important to the team.''