O'Brien rescues point for West Ham

(CNN) -- Joey O'Brien's first ever English Premier League goal salvaged a point for West Ham United in their Monday night clash with Stoke City.

The midfielder swept home from close range just two minutes after the interval to cancel out Jonathan Walters' first half strike from a perfectly executed corner routine.

The draw meant newly-promoted West Ham missed the chance to go fifth in the table, while Stoke edged away from the relegation zone.

Stoke manager Tony Pulis said he was delighted with his side's goal, which was the product of hours worth of work on the training ground.

Read: World's richest man saves Spanish soccer club

"We worked on it for two or three days and never scored a goal in training!" Pulis told Sky Sports.

"It was a great ball in and a great finish by Walters. I'm not supposed to say this, but we obstructed a player.

A different side of Cristiano Ronaldo

Peter Cech: Refs need to be more open

Mourinho: "Odio mi vida social"

"When you work on something on training and it comes off, then obviously it's fantastic. Our lads had to defend for their lives in the second half as West Ham played very well."

Just 13 minutes had gone when Stoke took the lead.

Walters moved from the back post to the front as several of his teammates blocked off West Ham defenders and he fired the ball into the net as Glenn Whelan's cross found him unmarked.

It was reward for Stoke's start to the game, as they strived for their first away win in the Premier League since January.

Stoke very nearly went to the interval 2-0 ahead after Steven N'Zonzi's powerful shot beat the goalkeeper but cannoned back off the crossbar.

West Ham came out revitalized in the second half and drew level inside two minutes. Gary O'Neil's ball across the face of goal was turned home by O'Brien, who was narrowly onside.

The home side almost grabbed a winner with a corner routine of their own but O'Neil fired wide of the far post. The point means West Ham stay seventh while Stoke remain in 14th spot.

"We could have finished them off with more clinical finishing, but there is another point on the board for us and we have to settle for that," said West Ham manager Sam Allardyce.

"I liked the way we sustained the pressure on Stoke, the belief and the spirit was not dented by the early goal.

"I think everyone in the second half raised their game, took Stoke to the wire and I think everyone would say we deserved the three points."

Pablo Osvaldo and Miralem Pjanic scored the goals as AS Roma beat Torino 2-0 to go sixth in Italy's Serie A.

In Spain, two goals from former Arsenal striker Carlos Vela helped Real Sociedad to a 4-0 victory over Rayo Vallecano that moved them up to ninth in the table.