Fuller scored a goal worthy of winning any game as Stoke became the latest team to heap misery on the West Ham faithful.

Thankful for Fuller ©GettyImages

It was a pretty poor game to be honest, with Pulis electing to start with Kitson and Sidibe up front and recalling Lawrence to the right and keeping Collins at Left Back. The first half was painful, Stoke time and time again would simply lump the ball up to the dream partnership(?) of two target men - the absence of Fuller meant that every time the ball got up to the attack, it promptly came straight back again, and the Hammers looked a lot more up for this game than they were against Wolves earlier in the week.

The second half saw a bit more ball down, but that was most likely because West Ham started to chase less and less as the game went on and as the groans increased for each misplaced pass or shot. Once we got the ball down a bit Matty got into the game a bit more and when Ric came on, like always, we looked a completely different side. It took the unpredictable Jamaican only two minutes to control a high ball before beating 3 players and slotting past England's Green in a goal almost identical to THAT Ricky Villa goal all those years ago.

Manager Rating - 7.5 - It seems the manager was hamstrung in his selection given a number of players suffering from food poisoning, flu or unluckliy for some, both.. This was apparently the reason why Fuller started on the bench and Etherington didn't complete the 90. The reason I have marked him down is for the tactics in the first half, it was truely awful to watch and I just couldn't see us getting anything until Ric came on - unfortunately that seems to be the case much of the time, especially away from home.

Player Ratings

Sorensen - 6.5 - Tommy was ok... there were 2 moments that gave me cause for concern. The first was the one on one when he came out then stopped and luckily saved instead of diving at the player's feet. The second was yet another palm out into the centre of the area from a long shot, he has a habit of doing this and we were lucky it fell to Mido who subsequently fluffed his effort.

Huth - 8 - Robbie continues to go from strength to strength and once again, despite starting on the right, he moved into the middle when Faye went off injured and had his usual solid game there.

Faye - 7 - Starting to get a bit of form with a number of games under his belt, which makes his early withdrawl even more frustrating for us all.

Higginbotham - 8.5 - Man of the Match - I never complain when I see Higgy in the middle, he was a rock once more and seemed to take the lead in organising everyone, even when Faye was still on the pitch, some excellent tackles including one goal saving one.

Collins - 7.5 - Danny, having had a few weeks back in the side, is starting to look better at Left Back, though his positional play and decision making in when to make runs to support the attack need some work. Had an unlikely assist with an up and under for Ric..

Lawrence - 6.5 - Pulis singled out Lawrence for praise but I really didn't think he had a great game at all. He kept getting caught in possession and again struggled to get the ball past his man - a right winger in the Etherington role is a must this Summer.

Whelan - 7 - Glenn didn't have the best game last week and this wasn't much better, guilty of giving the ball away a couple of times that led to dangerous breaks, but did work hard tracking back for the most part.

Delap - 7.5 - Rory was back in the middle and once more his throws were impeded by the latest team to move their advertising hoardings close to the touchlines. He covered well and showed excellent anticipation as always by snuffing out one particular attack when the forward was one on one.

Etherington - 7 - Eager to impress his former club, Matty had a quiet first half but always looked positive and wanted the ball, he was taken off having been one of those afflicted by illness earlier in the week.

Sidibe - 7.5 - Linked up well and won plenty of challenges around the half way line before protecting and moving the ball on for his colleagues, we know Mama's limitations but he did well today.

Kitson - 7 - Given the role of 'Fuller' as the furthest striker forward and showed some decent touches as always, he wins his fair share of headers and showed a surprising turn of pace out wide. I would like to see him given a few more games deeper alongside Fuller.

Substitutes

Wilkinson - 6.5 - Wilko hasn't been the same since those nightmare 3 or 4 games he had and didn't really set the game alight here either. At one point he let his man get across him forcing a late save from Sorensen who duly bent his ear afterwards.

Tuncay - 7.5 - Livened the game up when he came on, I would have preferred to have seen Fuller but Tunny did well. He does need to start being more considerate of his team mates in as much as when he runs forward with the ball and 2 or 3 bust a gut to support him, they would prefer him to pass instead of taking on 4 players.

Fuller - 8 - Wonder Goal... he simply HAS to play whenever he is fit, there is no-one else like him.