Stoke vs West Ham match report: Stewart Downing drags Hammers back from two down to earn a point at the Britannia

Stoke City 2 West Ham United 2

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That is part of the beauty of football, its ability to surprise, because what was supposed to be a low-or-no-score draw turned out to be a veritable goal fest as Enner Valencia inspired West Ham United’s superb comeback from 2-0 down to dampen Mark Hughes’s 51st birthday celebrations.

No other ground in all four divisions had witnessed as few as the six goals shared between Stoke City and their opponents at the Britannia Stadium this season before yesterday and, with Diafra Sakho’s chance to become the first man to score in his first seven Premier League games postponed by a shoulder injury, and Peter Crouch suspended for the home side, hopes of entertainment were not high.

Instead Valencia, all but anonymous in the first half as a lone striker, scored one and made Stewart Downing’s equaliser.

It had all looked so much a case of what comes after the Lord Mayor’s show as West Ham, having beaten Manchester City 2-1 last Saturday, went 2-0 down as Stoke took control through goals from Victor Moses and Mame Diouf.

But Hughes’s team threw away their advantageous position. They had responded to successive defeats in thrilling fashion as they produced “one of the most dynamic and convincing performances of the season”, according to Hughes.

Bojan was instrumental in this fine start. Moses scored in the 33rd minute after Geoff Cameron’s cross towards Diouf fell for the diminutive former Barcelona star to shoot against James Collins only for Moses to scramble the ball over the line for his first goal for the club.

Diouf and Steve Sidwell should have made it 2-0 just before half-time, but the game looked safe when the former headed home Jonathan Walters’ superb left-footed cross in the 56th minute.

But West Ham are nothing if not resilient under Sam Allardyce and Valencia made it 2-1 when diving in to head home Downing’s superb cross from the right.

Hughes was angry that play was not stopped for Alex Song “diving in two-footed on Diouf” 22 seconds before the goal. “It’s a poor challenge,” the Stoke manager said. “The referee should have stopped the game there and then. I thought referees were meant to stamp out, for want of a better phrase, those sort of challenges. He’s one of our senior referees so he’s got to do better than that.”

The game became a trading of chances, with Diouf heading Erik Pieters’ free-kick wide when scoring looked the easier option.

Stoke were then left to rue that miss when Downing drilled home from ten yards out 17 minutes from time from Valencia’s left-wing cross.

Stoke (4-2-3-1): Begovic; Cameron, Shawcross, Wilson, Pieters; Nzonzi, Sidwell; Walters, Bojan (Adam, 82), Moses; Diouf.

West Ham (4-2-3-1): Adrian; Jenkinson, Collins, Reid (Tomkins, 24), Cresswell; Noble (Nolan, 68), Kouyate; Downing, Song, Amalfitano (Cole, h-t); Valencia.

Referee: Chris Foy.

Man of the match: Downing (West Ham)

Match rating: 8/10