Paul Lambert wants Lady Luck to smile on Stoke during survival battle

Posted Tuesday, April 17, 2018 by PA

Paul Lambert is desperate for Stoke’s fortunes to turn as they bid for Premier League survival.

The Potters boss was cursing his luck again as his side were moments from securing a precious victory at West Ham until Andy Carroll climbed off the bench to snatch a 1-1 draw in the last minute.

The striker has been out injured since the turn of the year and was sent on as a last throw of the dice by David Moyes, with West Ham trailing to Peter Crouch’s goal.

Within three minutes Carroll fired home from the edge of the area to secure a point which edged the Hammers closer to safety and left Stoke still in serious trouble, four points from safety.

Lambert admits Stoke’s next match, at home to Burnley, is now a must-win game that will “put the cat among the pigeons” at the bottom of the table should they triumph.

He added: “I thought we deserved something from the game, we played a really good game and if we keep playing like that we will win games.

“If there is a little bit of Lady Luck it hasn’t come our way but the performances have been very good. If they had played like that since August I wouldn’t be here and we wouldn’t be in this position.”

West Ham had three goals disallowed, two for offside and a late Javier Hernandez ‘winner’ chalked off for handball against Carroll.

“I must have walked under a ladder or broken a mirror, because I’ve had no luck whatsoever,” added Lambert. “So it doesn’t matter how close the offside is, it’s offside.

“But there won’t be many stadiums rocking like ours will be next Sunday. We have to get a win and that will certainly drag teams into it.”

Crouch, a substitute himself, prodded Stoke into the lead with 11 minutes remaining after Joe Hart fumbled a routine shot from Xherdan Shaqiri.

It was another mistake by the goalkeeper, this time coming in front of England boss Gareth Southgate to cast further doubt on his World Cup place.

Hammers boss Moyes said: “He had two similar shots in the first half and took them comfortably, so it was a surprise that it spilled out.

“If you are a goalkeeper it’s going to happen. It meant we had to change things after we had been dominating the game.

“Our subs all played well. I don’t know if we will get Andy fit enough for 90 minutes, but if he can get 20 or 30 minutes that would be handy.”

Shortly before the match Hammers vice-chairman Karren Brady tweeted to plug her new TV show, which started at the same time as kick-off.

After a dreadful first half many fans at the London Stadium were probably wishing they had taken her advice, stayed at home and tuned in instead.

But a dramatic late finale made up for the dross which preceded it and West Ham look a little safer now after moving seven points clear of the drop zone.

“The points we have taken in recent weeks have been really important and it was important we didn’t lose tonight,” added Moyes

“The players showed the commitment to make that happen.”