Crouch rescues point for Stoke at London Stadium
It finished honours-even in the relegation scrap at the London Stadium.
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.
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.
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.
West Ham's leveller 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.
Three disallowed goals, but Andy Carroll's superb volley earns us an important point.#WHUSTK #COYI pic.twitter.com/pYQSUb2o7s
— West Ham United (@WestHam) April 16, 2018
Javier Hernandez soon rifled home what might have been a Hammers winner, but Carroll had handballed and no goal was given.
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.
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.
"It would have done us the world of good to get the three points but it was a great finish by Andy.
"Since this manager's come in we've shown a lot of character and have stopped shipping goals.
"There's winnable games left and if we win three of them then who knows what will happen?"
West Ham's goalscorer Carroll reflected on the last-gasp handball that put paid to a potential winner from Hernandez.
He said: "It was disappointing for us as we'd had a few other chances and a few goals disallowed.
"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."
