Rapport från Dave, vår man på plats
Dave var på plats när Stoke mötte Blackburn i lördags. Här kommer hans rapport + bilder.
Aye up duck,
Pete, Wils & me self made the trip to Blackburn. Charlotte was busy doing something with her boyfriend (spot the pattern here).
We made it to Blackburn in good time and parked the car for £4 before heading off to The Fernhurst pub which is situated right by the away end and therefore naturally was full of thirsty Stoke fans. It was rammed downstairs but Pete noticed that the upstairs function room was open and less busy so we moved there. Here we took the opportunity to check out Marks latest tattoo which depicts the classic pose of Denis Smith celebrating the '72 League Cup win. Whose next Mark?.....Vincent Pericard on yer arse?
Talk in the pub focused on what team Pulis would pick that afternoon. He ended up surprising us all by sticking with Wilko at right back and only giving Abdy a place on the bench after serving his 1 match ban. Delap was finally given a rest after some below par performances and B.T. was also dropped to the bench to give Mama a start.
I quite fancied our chances before the game and thought that if we could get an early goal Blackburn would be there for the taking particularly as Allardyce wouldn't be there due to his heart operation. The writing was on the wall though when I heard that a Blackburn v Stoke fixture had never finished 0-0 before.
The actual game itself was quite entertaining despite the goalless scoreline and Stokes overall performance was much better than last week.
Sorro - Great performance. Kept Stoke in the game early on with that Di Santos one on one
save.
Wilko - Deservedly kept his place in the team and had a good game. Coped well when up
against that like able chap Diouf. He followed on from last week with another second
half effort. This time he shot weakly against the side netting when really he should of
squared it to a forward.
Collins - Did OK. Nothing special.
Huth - Fortunately the referee didn't spot his blatant two handed push on Di Santos in the
first half that really should of been a penalty. He also body checked the same player in
the second half in the penalty box. What was he thinking?
Shawx - Good game until he had to go off with a groin strain.
Diao - Good game. Always plays better in the away games.
Whitehead - Did well. Missed the one on one when put through by Fuller in the first half. On
reflection he could of passed to Lawro but I don't blame him for having a go on goal. He also had a chance in the second half when he just couldn't reach Fullers pull back. If only he had left the ball as Ethers was right behind him in a better position.
Ethers - Looked lively going forward and got back to defend when required.
Lawro - Gave us attacking options. Had an opportunity to score in the first half when a
snap shot of his hit Robinson.
Fuller - Good game. Always a threat to the Blackburn defence.
Mama - Did Ok but he showed that he's no natural goalscorer by opting to lay the ball back
to Lawro when Lawro had put him in a position to shoot on goal.
Abdy - Replaced the injured Shawx. Had a tough duel with Samba.
B.T. - Replaced Mama and almost won it for Stoke near the end but shot over. To be fair the
ball just wouldn't drop in time for him.
Tuncay - Replaced Fuller (now there is a shock) Tried hard but had little impact. Pulis must
realise that giving Tuncay 5 or 10 minutes at the end of games is doing him or Stoke
no favours whatsoever. I'd rather him keep Fuller on and put Tuncay up with him to
take advantage of tired defenders.
Overall, an improved performance from Stoke with some good passing football. Its just a shame that our best chances didn't fall for to our forwards. The team however kept a consecutive clean sheet. Stoke have more clean sheets this season than a nun in a convent. (I mean Manchester United)
Good numbers and noise from Stoke fans.
.......Dave
