Stoke City 0

by on Sunday, May 2nd, 2010 | No Comments

Stoke's Andy Wilkinson (right) and Victor Anichebe of Everton fight for the ball. Photograph: Barry Coombs/PA

A soporific stalemate is rarely so comforting. After a week incorporating a 7-0 thrashing at Stamford Bridge and lurid revelations about dressing-room in-fighting, an uneventful afternoon suited Stoke perfectly. Even their often raucous supporters were muted, but the quiet life had its benefits.

For Tony Pulis, a shortage of melodrama equated to validation. "We showed a response," the Stoke manager said. "We've got a great bunch of lads and they showed that. There has been a lot of negativity about what's happened. But we're a club that got promoted with two others [West Brom and Hull] that have been relegated. This club is a good place to be at."

The Britannia Stadium proved to be a supportive environment for Stoke's stand-in captain. Starting a match for the first time since the end of February, when his challenge left Arsenal's Aaron Ramsey with a badly-broken leg, Ryan Shawcross negotiated his comeback with few alarms.

Stoke will have been pleased to get back on their feet against Everton so soon after their 7-0 thrashing by Chelsea. While they intercepted a similar number of passes in both games, the positions in which they did so is telling.

Nevertheless. City's best defender may have been Everton's most threatening attacker. It is a rare double, but then it is an understatement to say Victor Anichebe endured a mixed match. A curling, dipping effort almost resulted in a terrific goal but the ducking Nigerian also contrived to block team-mate Leighton Baines's shot and he appeared responsible for depriving his side of a winner.

Phil Jagielka headed Mikel Arteta's corner in but Anichebe, performing a man-marking job on goalkeeper Asmir Begovic, was ruled offside. "A perfectly good goal," said Steve Round, Everton's assistant manager. "We can't quite understand why it was disallowed." Pulis countered: "The officials will say he is the last man and impeded the goalkeeper." Whichever, England's World Cup referee, Howard Webb, curtailed Everton's celebrations.

Stoke's clearest chance fell Rory Delap's way. When Matthew Etherington delivered an enticing cross, the unmarked Delap, famously capable of delivering his long throws with remarkable precision, proved less adept with the ball at his feet. His shot was not even close.

Pulis's team selection was notable for the absence of their dissenting forwards. With Tuncay confined to the briefest of cameos, and Dave Kitson and James Beattie absent altogether, Stoke reunited their promotion-winning partnership in attack. A typical flick-on from Mamady Sidibe afforded Ricardo Fuller an opportunity, but he proved unable to lob Tim Howard. "We're disappointed we didn't win the game," said Pulis.

For Everton, the disappointment lay in the consequences. An eighth-place finish ensures next season will not include European football. "We are determined to be there every year," Round said. "Sometimes it does test your resources but that's what we are in it for."

THE FANS' PLAYER RATINGS AND VERDICT

CHRIS BALDWIN, Stoke.VitalFootball.co.uk Thank goodness for that. After the week we've had, with rumours about what's been going on in the dressing room, we needed a good team performance and that's exactly what we got. We may have deserved more than a point with Delap's miss. Fuller and Sidibe played well together, and apart from Tuncay getting booed when he came on, it looked as if everyone had put a difficult week behind them. We've achieved our objective of staying in the Premier League, now we need to clear out anyone causing problems.

The fan's player ratings Begovic 7; Wilkinson 7, Huth 7, Shawcross 8, Higginbotham 8; Delap 6 (Pugh, 88 6), Whelan 6, Whitehead 7; Etherington 8(Lawrence,88 6), Fuller 8 , Sidibe 9 (Tuncay 6)

STEVE JONES, BlueKipper.com A draw was a bit disappointing but it wasn't for lack of trying. We were the better team in the first half with Arteta on the ball. Anichebe had a good game, and if he gets a bit more belief he will become a really good Premier League player. But Saha had his flip-flops on today. He's our leading goalscorer but sometimes he just doesn't look interested. The disallowed goal was a mystery. We were celebrating for ages, but then I saw a Stoke fan laughing and knew something was up. How Delap missed that chance is anyone's guess, so a draw seemed a fair result.

The fan's player ratings Howard 6; Jagielka 7, Yobo 7, Distin 6, Baines 7; Osman 5 (Rodwell, 72 6), Neville 6, Arteta 8; Anichebe 8 (Bilyaletdinov, 90 6) Cahill 7 Saha 5 (Yakubu, 72 6)

TO TAKE PART IN THE FANS' VERDICT, SPORT@OBSERVER.CO.UK

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