West Ham hauled themselves out of the Barclays Premier League drop zone with a 3-0 win over Stoke City.
The Hammers made it back-to-back league wins for the first time in more than a year to stay on course to complete a great escape from relegation.Demba Ba was gifted his fourth goal in just five appearances after a calamitous Stoke mix-up, the recalled Manuel da Costa made it 2-0 and Thomas Hitzlsperger smashed in a late third to inflict a club record sixth straight away league defeat on the visitors.
The game was the first of back-to-back meetings between the two sides, who were also set to clash for the fourth time this season in the FA Cup quarter-finals a week tomorrow.
