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Robert Green completed a miserable week by gifting Stoke their winner in a 2-1 victory over West Ham at the Britannia Stadium.

After becoming the first England goalkeeper to be sent off last weekend against Ukraine, Green did more damage to his World Cup hopes by gifting James Beattie Stoke's 70th-minute winner.

After Matthew Upson had cancelled out Beattie's opener, the decisive moment arrived when Ricardo Fuller's soft shot was parried out by Green, allowing Beattie to pounce ahead of the sleeping Julien Faubert.

Defeat leaves Gianfranco Zola's men second from bottom, without a win in over two months and seven league games.

Tony Pulis's side were in a slump of their own; having earned rave reviews for their home performances over the past 15 months, The Potters were facing the prospect of suffering a third straight defeat at the Britannia for the first time since gaining promotion.

Clearly Pulis had reminded his players of that fact, and they came out like a steam train.

Three corners in the first four minutes set the tone for an opening period where West Ham barely featured, and after 10 minutes Stoke were ahead thanks to Fuller's ingenuity.

Bamboozling the West Ham defence down the left, Fuller back-heeled the ball inside the area for Matt Etherington to burst onto, and when Faubert dived in recklessly, Beattie stepped up to ram home the penalty.

West Ham had barely turned up. In fact, had it not been for the sight of the hustle and bustle of Carlton Cole you would have thought this was a training session early on.

Four times Cole has scored this season, and on each occasion West Ham have failed to win. Unsurprisingly it was the England forward who led the comeback, constantly harrying his markers and then forcing Thomas Sorensen to tip his looping header over the bar.

The Hammers began to build their corner count, courtesy of Cole's energy, and Upson made sure his forward found some reward for his work, the defender rising unmarked at a corner to bury an equaliser that left Pulis fuming.

Stoke fans could hardly have been surprised to see their lead disappear, having already chucked away three winning positions so far this season. They needed half time, and fortunately it arrived after Cole had threatened again after spinning excellently inside the area.

The interval did not curb Cole's enthusiasm and he continued to torment Ryan Shawcross after the break, and Alessandro Diamanti almost benefited from a knock-down as his 20-yard curler brought a full stretch save from Sorensen.

Shawcross is a big goal threat himself, and moments later he almost claimed revenge from a corner, first seeing his header blocked on the line and then seeing his follow-up fly wide from two yards.

Stoke's best moments were becoming limited to set-pieces whereas West Ham were upping their territorial dominance, and Diamanti almost made it pay with a lovely Cruyff turn and strike from 25 yards.

The Shawcross/Cole duel still had more chapters to run though and only a brilliant sliding block stopped Cole scoring for his fourth consecutive match. The block was crucial.

Just moments later Stoke regained the lead, Green's powder puff hands pushing Fuller's shot into the path of Beattie, who simply wanted it more than Faubert as he bundled home.

Zola responded, throwing on Zavon Hines and Junior Stanislas, but it was Glenn Whelan who went closest to altering the final score - slamming wide as Stoke clung on for victory.

Ben Blackmore / Eurosport