Rapport från Dave, vår man på plats
Här kommer lite text och bilder i samband med Boltonmatchen från Dave. Thanks Dave.
Aye up duck,
Stoke were made to pay dearly for not putting this game to bed.
After last weeks draw at Wolves, Tunny replaced the injured Mama and Lawrence replaced Ethers. Ethers had picked up an injury late on at the Wolves match. This meant that at the kick off Stoke had arguably 3 of our most influential players not on the pitch. Ethers & Fuller were on the bench and Shawx again wasn't risked.
However, just as in our last home game (against Hull) Stoke found themselves 1-0 up fairly early into the game. On that occasion Kitson was the provider but this time he was on the receiving end of some nice play that involved Whelan and Tunny. He raced onto Tunnys delightful through ball before taking around the keeper to score with some ease. "GET IN".....1-0 to Stoke.
As the game continued I remember thinking how poor Bolton looked and that they were definitely there for the taking. A Huth header from a Delap throw-in hit the post as Stoke went in search for that crucial second goal.
At half time the Stoke City girls centre of excellence & ladies team did a lap of the pitch.
At the start of the second period Bolton, who had nothing to lose, brought on a forward (Klasnic) for a defender (Ricketts) and they started to look more lively. Stoke fell into the trap of defending deeply and on a couple of occasions Bolton came close to equalising.
Stoke though also had their moments and one lovely pass by Kitson put Whitehead in on goal. He rightly chose to lob the keeper but Jaaskelainen just got his hand to it. Ethers was then introduced and he immediately went on a run before squaring the ball to Tunny. Tunny didn't strike the ball cleanly and the ball agonisingly hit the post before Kitson shot over from the rebound. Kitson though was offside anyway.
Tunny was replaced by Fuller and he added some strength to Stokes tiring attack. For the third time this season Tunny chose to head straight for the changing rooms and not sit with the rest of the substitutes. Poor show. This time the Stoke fans voiced their disapproval with Tunny and not with Pulis as they had done for the Villa game.
Just as it looked like Stoke were going to overtake last seasons total of 45 points, Matthew Taylor woke up to spoil our day for the second time this season. Don't forget he was the guy who scored that last minute equaliser at the Reebok back in September. First of all he scored a deflected free kick on 85 minutes before getting to a cross ahead of Huth to score the winner on 88.
Stoke still had time to miss the chance of getting at least a point. Deep into stoppage time a Huth header fell to the unmarked Faye who shot over from 6 yards out.
Stoke have now lost more home games (6) than away (5).
.......Dave
