Rapport från Dave, vår man på plats
Här kommer Daves rapport + bilder från matchen mot Wolves.
Aye up duck,
Bloody hell Stoke. Talk about a game of two halves. Great first half. Sloppy second half.
Barmy (Stoke fan) travelled to the game with a massive Wolves fan called Loagie. Loagie NEVER misses a Wolves game. Well that was until the Derby County away match last sesaon. What happened was that he was just about to leave his house to go to the match when he put the T.V. on. The match had already started. He thought the kick off time was 7:45pm when it was a actually 3pm!...Unlucky.
Stoke started with last weeks hero Glenn Whelan in the side in place of the injured Diao. Sorro replaced Simmo and Huth served the last match of his suspension.
Mama also got a place on the bench in place of Kitson who if you believe the rumours:-
(a) Had a training ground bust up with Peter Reid earlier in the week and
(b) Drove away from the ground in a huff when he wasn't named as a sub.
To be fair I think he has got every right to be pissed off. Pulis makes statements that Tuncay isn't match fit only to then put Mama on the bench after one reserve game and some midweek action against Portsmouth in the Carling cup.
Wolves had 3 ex-Stokies in their team. Karl (square pass) Henry, Big Chris Iwelumo and one time loanee Jody Craddock. Apparently, Henry holds the all time record for substitute appearances for Stoke (80 odd). In the build up before the game he spouted off in the press about Wolves being a bigger club etc...(yawn)...The prick therefore got booed at every opportunity. Big Chris however was given a generous applause when he was substituted in the second half.
The last time we played Wolves at home in the top flight was 25 years ago when Stoke won 4-0. At half time today Stoke fans were contemplating a similar result. That was to change though when Wolves scored 1 minute after the re-start. The goal was clearly offside and for the linesman not to raise his flag was staggering. I can only assume that he thought that a Stoke player had flicked the ball on. If so, why didn't he check with the referee?
Anyway, the goal stood and it gave Wolves a massive lift at a crucial period of the match. Equally staggering was that Stoke then conceded from another set piece for their equaliser. The last 4 goals we've concede at The Brit have all come from set plays.
Sorro - Didn't really have much to do. Couldn't really fault him for the goals.
Wilko - As usual. 100% commitment, tigerish tackles with poor distribution.
Collins - Good first period but was pretty awful after the break.
Abdy - Seemed to me as if he was carrying an injury. Too casual and he tended to over play it at times which nearly got him into trouble. He also missed that second half header that should of won us the game.
Shawx - Did OK.
Delap - Stokes second came from a Rory throw-in. He was one of the few Stoke players that had a better second half.
Ethers - Scored his first goal for Stoke. Full of confidence and running.
Whitehead - Pretty anonymous really.
Whelan - Did OK but struggled to get the midfield going.
Fuller - Received two challenges early in the game that amazingly didn't see the Wolves player getting booked. Fuller did well not to retaliate. He didn't really get much opportunity to show what he can do throughout the game. 1 header only springs to mind.
B.T. - Did well to force the own goal (similar to the West Ham winner). I thought he had got a bad injury in the first half but he managed to play on. He wasn't happy when he was subbed later in the game.
Mama - replaced B.T. but didn't have any impact.
Tuncay - replaced Fuller but didn't have any impact.
Lawro - replaced Delap but didn't have any impact.
A word about Craddock. Since his loan spell at Stoke he has gone on to perform well for Wolves. The yam yams even sing a song about him which has the line "He used to be Shite, but now he's alright". Craddock has got connections to the town where I work. To make matters worse one of my colleagues is a relative of his.
Oh well...At least we got a point.
The next 3 fixtures against Hulll, Portsmouth & Blackburn will tell us what kind of a season we are going to have.
.....Dave
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