Bottom club West Ham United secured their first point of the season after eking out a hard-fought 1-1 draw at Stoke City in the early English Premier League match yesterday.
Midfielder Scott Parker had fired the Hammers into a first-half lead, before Potters striker Kenwyne Jones leveled early in the second half.
The result failed to lift West Ham off the foot of the table. The London club, whose Jewish manager Avram Grant had skipped the match to observe Yom Kippur, remain rooted to the bottom with one point from five matches.
West Ham took the lead mid-way through a scrappy first half at the Britannia Stadium in which both sides struggled to carve out many clear chances.
Stoke had come closest to scoring when a jittery Robert Green fumbled a Jermaine Pennant free-kick, allowing Robert Huth to jab a close-range effort against the post with the Hammers goalkeeper beaten, but after surviving that scare, West Ham were to take the lead on 32 minutes when a free-kick from from Victor Obinna caused havoc in the Stoke defense.
A frantic clearance from Rory Delap cannoned back off Ryan Shawcross and into the path of Parker, who hooked into the net from close range to claim his second goal of the season.
Moments later, West Ham could have doubled their lead after a surging run from Frederic Piquionne ended with the former Portsmouth striker thumping a curling shot against the woodwork.
The opening 45 minutes were also increasingly fractious, both sides picking up two yellow cards apiece from referee Lee Mason. Shawcross was lucky not to see red after an off-the-ball incident where he appeared to swing an arm into the face of Hammers forward Carlton Cole.
West Ham saw their advantage vanish within a few minutes of the restart.
A perfectly weighted Jon Walters pass released Pennant and the winger picked out Jones with an exquisitely flighted cross that the striker nodded home.
Jones almost put his side ahead on 59 minutes only to be denied by a superb point-blank save by Green, who diverted the striker’s shot onto the upright.
Thomas Sorensen saved from Obinna and Manuel da Costa as the Hammers pushed for a winner, while Stoke came close to snatching victory in the 82nd minute when Ricardo Fuller’s header hit the underside of the crossbar.
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