Stoke 3 Birmingham 2
Tony Pulis’s side stopped the rot after four straight Premier League defeats with a midweek victory over Alex McLeish’s blues at the Britannia Stadium. The sides swapped places in the table after an enthralling final quarter of the match that saw Birmingham come from two goals down to draw level in a little over two minutes. Dean Whitehead grabbed an eighty-fifth minute winner for the home side though, making Keith Fahey’s chest and volley from just inside the area and Cameron Jerome’s headed equaliser count for nothing. This was after Stoke had gone in with a half time lead thanks to Robert Huth and Ricardo Fuller’s wonderful finish cutting in from the right on the counter around the seventy minute mark.
The opening forty-five was totally forgettable and scrappy to say the least. Were it not for the ball breaking to the German centre half to blast in after Whitehead passed to Fuller who put the ball through a crowded penalty area, then it could have been summed up by a failed free kick routine from the home side. Stoke were certainly on top of a match that was difficult viewing, but it got better after the break. The game finally burst into life with twenty minutes remaining with a Birmingham attack that saw Jerome’s cross turned onto the post by the desperate stretch of a Potters defender with subsequent shots from Nikola Zigic and Stephen Carr blocked last ditch. Immediately on the counter the home side raced down the right from where Fuller cut inside with the blues defence swarming around him and curled an unstoppable, clinical effort beyond the outstanding Ben Foster. The Birmingham keeper had made a string of saves before, but they were all ones you would expect an England international to make.
Three minutes later blues substitute Keith Fahey scored an equally impressive goal to pull one back for the visitors. Good work came down the right from Sebastian Larsson saw the ball eventually fall to him and with superb technique put the ball beyond Asmir Begovic. Stoke panicked and Birmingham drew level less than two minutes after again Larsson got down the right and whipped in a perfect cross for Jerome to head home. Potters centre half Danny Higginbotham struggled aerially tonight and must taken responsibility here for the equaliser. With five minutes of the ninety remaining Matthew Etherington’s cross deflected through Scott Dann’s legs and Dean Whitehead netted his first goal for the Potters to give them all three points.
The goalkeepers remained on top for most of the first hour. Craig Gardner drew fine saves from Begovic from distance and has shown an eye for goal this season finally getting first-team football. At the other end Foster showed immense bravery with Higginbotham in on goal and got to the ball first with fantastic reactions. Stoke could also have made it easier had a Kenwyne Jones’s header had been on target inside the opening ten minutes from a Jermaine Pennant cross. The blues will feel bitterly disappointed after coming back from two goals down to draw level for the second game in four days, only this time to see their endeavour result in no reward. Stoke fans can hopefully now forget about bad refereeing decisions as their team certainly had some good luck, particularly with Whitehead’s winner, this evening.
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