Diego Tristan kept West Ham on the road to Europe by scoring the only goal against Stoke at the Britannia Stadium.

The Spanish striker scored the only goal of a feisty match in the 32nd minute to leave Stoke stunned.

It was just the result Hammers manager Gianfranco Zola was looking for in his bid to claim seventh place in the table.

With relegation a slight threat, Stoke had different reasons why they wanted to extend their unbeaten home league record.

But despite this defeat they should still have enough points on the board to secure their status.