Stoke 0 West Ham 1

A goal from Jack Collison was enough to give West Ham a first away win, in the Premier League, since November.

In doing so we became only the second team, after Chelsea, to beat Stoke at the Britannia Stadium this season.

But it was a strange win!

West Ham, in the first eleven minutes, were to lose two of their starting eleven. First Matty Taylor caught the boot of Peter Crouch, flush on his jaw and was led away looking slightly concussed before Joe Cole pulled a hamstring, seconds later, and also had to be replaced.

But the set-backs didn`t deter the Hammers and they could have taken the lead when a header from James Collins hit the bar. But respite for Stoke was short-lived when West Ham took the lead on the stroke of half time. The goal came after Ricardo Vaz Te, on for Cole, fed a pass straight into the stride of Jack Collison, on for Taylor, and his shot found the bottom corner.

Always looking the side in control, West Ham survived one major scare in the second half when the Stoke substitute, Charlie Adam hit a shot against the cross-bar.

Before the game, it had been intimated that we only needed six points to be clear of relegation, after this then we`re just one win away from what would be deemed a successful season.

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