West Ham United boss Sam Allardyce has paid tribute to Jack Collison after victory over Stoke City.

Collison proved the matchwinner on the day and Allardyce reflected on his ongoing knee problems.

"It's an unfortunate injury that he has to live with and he manages it extremely well as a young professional," Allardyce explained to whufc.com. "It's a great shame when such a young man has to be burdened with that and he knows the knee is never going to be 100% so the management of that knee is great credit to him and the medical staff.

"He does a lot of his own training and rarely trains with us. He has to get himself ready and prepared for a game and then after that he has to have that bit longer to rest and recover than everybody else.

"He can live with it. It is going to restrict him somewhat but he is a very talented young man. Because of his professionalism and the fact the medical staff have told him exactly what he has to do week in, week out he will be able to play the game he loves for as long as he can even with that restriction."