It was a rearguard action for much of the second half and I lost count of the number of times Ward either won headers, or got blocks in or won tackles as the Clarets saw off the frantic efforts of the home side.
His performance comfortably won him the man of the match with 44.9% of the vote, head of central defender Jason Shackell who was second with a 17.0% share.
Danny Ings may well have said on Match of the Day that he could take no credit for this result but supporters thought otherwise and he was voted in third place with 16.5%, just behind Shackell, and Michael Duff adding to the defensive success with 6.3% of the vote to take fourth place.
There is no need to even shuffle the top four when it comes to the player ratings. It's the same top four and in the same positions. Ward's rating of 8.92 out of 10 was the best we've had this season.
Shackell came second with a rating of 8.64 and he was followed by Ings and Duff who had ratings of 8.59 and 7.90 out of 10 respectively.
This result has seen Ward win ten points towards the Clarets Mad Player of the Year. Six points went to Shackell, four to Ings with Duff collecting two points.
Those points have taken Shackell above Lukas Jutkiewicz into second place and both Duff and Ings have moved closer to Juke. For Ward, they were his first points since the cup game against Sheffield Wednesday and he's moved into joint seventh place with George Boyd.
The next vote will be for the Villa game this Saturday and will be available within an hour of the final whistle.
The result for the Stoke game and the current player of the year table can be found below.
MAN OF THE MATCH
44.9% - Stephen Ward
17.0% - Jason Shackell
16.5% - Danny Ings
6.3% - Michael Duff
4.3% - Michael Kightly
2.8% - Ashley Barnes & George Boyd
1.4% - Tom Heaton & Dean Marney
1.1% - Kieran Trippier
0.9% - David Jones
0.6% - Lukas Jutkiewicz
PLAYER RATINGS
8.92 - Stephen Ward
8.64 - Jason Shackell
8.59 - Danny Ings
7.90 - Michael Duff
7.82 - Michael Kightly
7.62 - Tom Heaton
7.54 - Dean Marney
7.44 - Ashley Barnes
7.36 - George Boyd
7.33 - David Jones
7.28 - Kieran Trippier
6.79 - Lukas Jutkiewicz
CLARETS MAD PLAYER OF THE YEAR
53: Scott Arfield
33: Jason Shackell
31: Lukas Jutkiewicz
28: Michael Duff
24: Danny Ings
20: Kieran Trippier
17: George Boyd & Stephen Ward
16: David Jones
11: Dean Marney & Ben Mee
10: Nathaniel Chalobah & Tom Heaton
7: Ashley Barnes
3: Marvin Sordell
1: Matt Gilks, Michael Kightly & Matt Taylor