West Ham boss gives his assessment on Stoke City draw

Monday, November 19, 2012
10:34 PM

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce felt his side deserved all three points against Stoke City.

Jonathan Walters gave the visitors the lead at Upton Park but Joey O’Brien levelled the scores for the Hammers.

“I thought we deserved three points in the end. Stoke were better than us in the first half,” Allardyce told Sky Sports.

“We had to recover from an extremely good goal from Jon Walters. The way we started the second half with the full backs going forward.

“We scored with another ball down the right hand side. We had several other chances that had the clinical finish today.

“Coming back from 1-0 down, we move on reasonably happy.”

Allardyce appreciated the Jon Walters’ goal for Stoke, although he didn’t enjoy it.

“I didn’t enjoy it,” he added. “You can see the one we worked with Gary O’Neil. Gary was five or six inches wide.

“Their effort did, ours didn’t and that ended up being the difference.

“I liked the way we sustained the pressure. That really pleased me.

“I believed in the spirit and the quality of the team.”

Allardyce also paid tribute to Modibo Maiga after his performance against the Potters as well as Gary O’Neil.

“I think Maiga is feeling his way into this demanding league,” he explained.

“He showed some of his abilities today. Gary O’Neil stepped in. He did a good job.

“Everybody lifted the game in the second half.

“To think that we’re going well in terms of our league position when Stoke have been doing this for the past three years – it says how well we’ve done.

“We continued our good performances in the second half. Everybody would agree we deserved to win this one.”