Rapport från Dave, vår man på plats
Här kommer rapport och bilder från Dave som var på plats under matchen Wolves-Stoke. Thanks Dave.
Aye up duck,
First task of the day was to check out Wils' new purchase which is a sign from the old Victoria Ground bought off e-bay.
Then it was the relatively short trip up to Wolverhampton. As it was an early kick off all of the pubs were shut and no beer was on sale at the ground either. That was a shame as a beer or two would of been appreciated as any match between Tony Pulis and Mick McCarthy is going to be a tight affair based on good defence play.
If you then consider that Stoke have scored only 9 away goals all season and that Wolves have only scored 10 at home a scoreline of 0-0 was fairly predictable. In fact it was nailed on. By the way, Stoke have only conceded 16 league goals on their travels this season. A commendable record that is shared with the likes of Chelsea & Manure.
The performances of both teams coupled with the sunny spring weather and the early start made the game what it was...An "end of season" fairly tepid affair.
This must of pleased the powers that be who brought in the ridiculous noon kick off time. Therefore, considering it was a Staffordshire derby, the atmosphere never really got going. I was particularly surprised at the Wolves fans who I thought would of had Molineux rocking given that three points would of almost guaranteed their safety. Instead they were more content to taunt Stoke by singing "Boring, Boring" every time Rory took a throw-in (which was about every 3 minutes). For them to sing that is a bit rich as the only reason why we took so many was because their players kept kicking the ball out of play. What makes me laugh also is that Wolves have only scored 1 home league goal in 2010 compared to Stokes 12. Now that is boring!
Mama replaced the rested Fuller and despite scoring his first goal of the season last week Lawrence made way for Whitehead.
Sorro.....Wasn't really tested but did what he had to do well. He spilled a late free kick but recovered in time.
Huth......As usual a solid and dependable performance from Mr Huth.
Collins...Steady game. Enjoying a good run in the team.
Abdy.....Came close to scoring on a couple of occasions in the first half. Good defensively.
Higgy....Did well.
Delap.....Worked really hard as usual. To be fair Wolves dealt with his 27 throw-ins well.
Whelan....A bit off the pace again. Had two late shots from distance that went close.
Whitehead....Struggled a bit on his return to the starting line-up. To be fair he was asked to play on the right and not in his preferred central midfield role.
Ethers.....In a game that wasn't really suited to Ethers he struggled to find any rhythm. When he did manage to find space it came to nothing.
Mama & Kitson....Near to where I was sitting the general feeling seemed to be that Mama can't do anything right and Kitson can't do anything wrong. To me BOTH players had fairly poor games. Kitson has skill but sometimes lacks effort and I cant see him being at Stoke next season. He faded in the second half and seemed to lose interest. Whereas Mama can put the effort in he is clearly lacking in other areas of his game. He also badly needed Fuller up there with him for this match. The only one really good clear cut chance of the entire match fell to Mama and I'm sorry to say that he failed miserably to put it away.
Tuncay.....replaced Kitson but made no impact.
Lawrence..replaced the injured Mama.
This was Stokes sixth away league match without defeat which equals a run set back in 1980. It was also Stoke third consecutive clean sheet and we have now not conceded in 4 out of the last 5 games. Finally, Stoke are now unbeaten in 6 games against Wolves.
......Dave
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