Stoke lost 0-1 to a single goal by Massimo Luongo, who strolled past hapless Liam Lindsay (and his weak clearance) and basted past Federici on 43 (& a half) minutes. Against the run of play, that was for sure. Loads of injuries (Etebo, Carter-Vics, Edwards) but few chances in this game. Stoke almost drop back to bottom place, but saved by a late Baggies goal vs Barnsley. Here’s how it panned out in real time:
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Stoke haven’t won 3 in a row for 3 years, 2 away games in a row for 4 years, and a midweek away league game for…er…9 years? NINE YEARS?? But then Wednesday haven’t beat us at Hillsborough for 35 years. THIS HAS DRAW WRITTEN ALL OVER IT!! It makes you wonder why the fans bother turning up at all. If this doesn’t finish 0-0 then a betting syndicate in the Far East will lose their shirt.
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Stoke completely unchanged…except for Ward in at right back for Bruno Martins Indi, who threw up at half-time (no doubt after enduring the state of Fulham’s away shirts).
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Stoke City & Wednesday appear to the tune of On The Waterfront by The Simple Minds, although (due to distortion) at first I thought it was One Of These Days (I’m Going To Smash You Into Little Pieces) by Pink Floyd. Yes, very appropriate.
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9.53 Danny Batth heads an offensive header towards Wednesday’s corner flag. I say offensive in one particularly meaning of the word.
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18.35 Tom Edwards having a mare. Giving the ball away, thinking he’s 7ft tall when he jumps up to head the ball (embarrassing), and now a foul-throw that a dad would be embarrassed his kid might make.
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20.25 Struggling Peter Etebo replaced by ex-Sheff Utd Mark Duffy, which is not popular with Wednesday fans, unsurprisingly. Game pretty dull otherwise…
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24.04 Finally a chance, and Sheffield blow it. Players going down all over the place. The trainers have been on at least four times already. Lindsay is warming up, so it must be Carter-Vickers hobbling off. TWO SUBS IN 6 MINUTES FOR STOKE!
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40.20 Joe Allen having a bit of a mare too, being very Joe Allen: caught on the ball in defence, dummying when he shouldn’t, passing poorly. haircut might fix things.
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42.33 0-1 !!! Wednesday score against the run of play, Massimo Luongo beating the offside thanks to a shocker from Liam Lindsay (what was he thinking?!) and slotting past Federici. Jack would have saved that. Yeah, sure.
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HT Wednesday 1 Stoke 0. I’ve seen the replay, and Lindsay should have claimed it hit Luongo’s arm…even though it didn’t really.
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47.50 MORE INJURIES. Clash of heads in Stoke’s box! This time it’s Ward. Yet more injuries.
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59.30 Nathan and staff being told off by the ref after Joe Allen swears blind he should have had a penalty. Fans take it out on the ref. That should sway him.
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61.40 Somehow Stoke fail to score, Gregory should have headed home at least. However, Federici has to make a save to keep Stoke in this.
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65.30 Duffy goes down like he’s been broken his leg, gets the free-kick, and then is up 3 seconds later. Wednesday fans definitely don’t like him!
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67.56 Fastest substitution ever: Tyrese rushes over to be replaced by Scott Hogan. Stoke will be back at the bottom if he doesn’t pull out another rabbit.
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75.25 Hogan scares the Sheffield keeper, then Duffy collapses and then recovers quickly again.
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87.02 Now Edwards goes down with what looks like a groin injury. He’s stumbling off, so Stoke are down to 10 men.
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90+1 Nathan gets a yellow card. Can it get any worse?
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90+7 Stoke lose by 0-1, but it’s the injuries that could ravage this side.
