Match Reports

Nationwide League Division 1

05 Oct 2002: Stoke City 1 Crystal Palace 1 Att: 14,214

POTTERS SPLUTTER TO A POINT AGAINST ORDINARY EAGLES by AndyP

When I say that the most entertaining aspect of this fixture was the banter on the way home on Friday night with a car load of Leeds Stokies, you will probably gauge my disappointment at this result. However, on a positive note we have a 5 game unbeaten run, and I guess it's good to be in a position where you think you should be winning matches like this, rather than wondering where you next win is going to come from like Brighton who were promoted with us last season.

With Mooney and Gunnarsson still suspended it meant a forward pairing of Cooke and Hoekstra, and Karl Henry taking the spare midfield slot after Cotterill kept faith with him despite some recent disappointing displays. I didn't expect a particularly good game as soon as Stoke were forced to attack the Boothen in the first half. I don't know what the statistics are on this but most games I've attended when this has happened Stoke always seem to struggle to find their rhythm, (and usually lose!!)

The opening ten minutes were very scrappy and uneventful, and I found nothing to put in my notebook! In fact it was Palace who should have taken the lead on 14 minutes when Adebola turned Handyside, slipped a ball to Freedman, who sharply supplied a cutting pass to allow Derry to run in on goal with our defence well beaten. I was expecting a bulging net but he sent a feeble shot straight at Culter who gathered gratefully. Stoke were finding it difficult to get going, and weren't helped by the referee's odd decisions to say the least. On 23 minutes Bjarni went on a run goalwards but was seemingly brought down as he went past his man. However the referee saw differently and booked the Icelander for diving!

It took Stoke 25 minutes to fashion their first real chance. Some good work by Thomas on the right allowed him to cross and Cooke headed wide from 10 yards when he should have done much better. To add to his frustration he was booked 5 minutes later for dissent after another questionable refereeing decision.Two minutes later Freedman missed an easy header from 8 yards after running unmarked to meet a cross from the right. On 37 minutes a Thomas run on the right was ended by a foul around 20 yards out. Gudjonsson curled the free-kick wide around the angle of the near post and bar. On 40 minutes Stoke produced a move of real quality and were a whisker away from taking the lead. Gudjonsson linked well with Hoekstra who slipped the ball wide to O'Connor running in from the left. Super James' shot/cross across the box was nearly turned in by Cooke arriving a yard too late at the far post.

Gudjonsson turned comic entertainer on 43 minutes as Stoke won a free-kick after Hoekstra had been clambered all over out on the right wing. Gudjonsson looked to be pacing out the 10 yards for the wall then cheekily darted into the box to receive the chipped free-kick, but was adjudged offside. He was involved again two minutes later as his run was ended by a foul but the free-kick which was ultimately fruitless. Stoke were at last showing a bit of purpose, having their best spell of the game and the most of the play. Just before half-time Cooke wasted another good chance, blasting over from 10 yards after a good build up and being teed up by Hoekstra. HT 0-0

After the break Stoke came out and started where they left off, earning a corner in the first 2 minutes. However it took a good low Cutler save to keep the scores level, after Handyside lost out and Clarke was out of position on 52 minutes. Still a minute later Cooke beat the offside trap following a great ball from Hoekstra. The ball sat up invitingly for him to lob the Palace keeper who was well off his line. Of course Cooke put his effort well wide of the target. A minute later Gudjonsson chipped a nice ball into the right channel and Thomas ran on to it only to be bundled over. The Vanduerzen free-kick was headed over. Vanduerzen was involved again on 56 minutes when he fired wide from 18 yards after good work from O'Connor.

After the promising start to the second half it started to go a bit flat for Stoke. We were limited to a tame overhead effort from Cooke and a speculative 30 yard effort from Henry during the next 15 minutes or so. Cotterill seemed to sense we needed a new approach if we were to take the full points, and he removed Vanduerzen and Cooke, and replaced them with Goodfellow and Iwelumo on 72 minutes. However it was Palace who now started to look dangerous. A minute after the substitution Butterfield managed to miss the target from 6 yards when left free after a cross from the right where Thomas was sleeping. On 74 minutes Shtaniuk had to produce a brilliant tackle from behind on the edge of the area to prevent Freedman running in clean on goal, averting danger and coming out with the ball!

However Palace did score on 77 minutes when Freedman looped a diagonal ball over the defence and Adebola ran on to it, holding off Handyside and Thomas and sent a powerful 12 yard shot past Cutler into the net by the near post, when I guess he was expecting it to come across him. At that point I expected that the "Attacking the Boothen First Half" Curse had struck again! It seemed that despite having most of the possession and creating more chances, we hadn't really looked capable of scoring. On 81 minutes Adebola got in another shot after Clarke had misplaced his pass, and it was deflected for a corner.

Just as Palace might have though that they were going to grab all three points, Iwelumo saved Stoke with an excellent equaliser. Goodfellow was played in well by Thomas, and he advanced into the box before cutting the ball back to Iwelumo to send a crisp low shot into the bottom right hand corner from 12 yards leaving the keeper rooted to the spot. With their tails up Stoke went for the win. With 2 minutes to go Goodfellow sent a 25 yarder just over from open play, and in stoppage time Stoke earned a corner but could not capitalise. The final action was a Gudjonsson free-kick on the right which fell to Handyside at the far post who could only head tamely towards the keeper. The final whistle went, and an under par display had picked up a point.

Team Marks:

GK Cutler (6) Made one very good save. Didn't have much else to do. Could have done better for the goal.

RB Thomas (6) Got forward well, but defended sloppily at times.

LB Clarke (6) Still persists in giving his man too much room. Pushed up well. Some key slips that luckily went unpunished

CB Shtaniuk (8) Masterful at the back. Won every header, and what a challenge to prevent the run on goal. [STARMAN]

CB Handyside (7) Worked hard trying to shackle Adebola, but didn't always succeed!

RM Gudjonsson (7) A good display, supplying what little invention we came up with, and crosses. Faded in the latter stages.

CM O'Connor (7) An industrious effort from Super James. Solid without being spectacular

CM Henry (6) Pretty poor in the first half. Gave the moaners near me plenty of ammunition with dwelling on the ball and losing it, and with poor passing. Came out in the second half like a man possessed making crunching tackles, and surging runs, and some better passes. Began to show his potential and why Cotterill rates him highly. Faded as the second half went on, as did the rest of the team.

LM Vanduerzen (6) Hard working without setting the world alight. Not enough creation from the left.

CF Hoekstra (7) Some neat touches, and flashes of skill. Not entirely suited the role of target man, as Stoke spent much of the first half trying to pick him out with hoofs up the field! Good to see him last the 90 minutes.

CF Cooke (6) Looked more like the player that people thought would struggle in a higher league today. Should have scored. Missing Mooney?

SUBS

Goodfellow (7) Came on, helped us get the goal, and generally looked lively.

Iwelumo (7) Gave us something to aim at, and scored a very well taken goal to rescue a point.

Conclusion

Stoke played well for a few periods of this game. The last 15 minutes of the first half, and the first 10 minutes of the second half saw their best attacking and creative spells. They also perked up after conceding, and scored a well worked equalising goal. But for much of this game they were disjointed and lacking in ideas against a very ordinary Palace side. Overall a pretty average performance but we still did enough to deserve all three points, and might have taken them if Cooke had not missed two really good chances. While I'm glad we didn't slump to defeat, as I'd expected we might after Palace scored, I can't help feeling disappointed that we didn't play as well as we can, and probably picked up three points pretty easily. It wasn't very entertaining to watch, and there's little satisfaction to be taken from the result! It says something when your star man is a defender. I can't help thinking that at home it should be going to a striker for bagging 2 goals and winning the game!

Fancy writing a match report? Submit your efforts by email