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Saints At Stoke City The Verdict
Thursday, 30th Oct 2014 09:56

Saints showed that they can win ugly as they got down and scrapped with Stoke City for a place in the quarter finals of the Capital One Cup.

This was not a game for the feint hearted as Saints first looked like they were going to run away with the tie and then looked like they would be the victims of a second half fight back before finally winning it with minutes to spare.

In the first half it seemed like Saints would cruise to victory, a sublimecurled effort from distance from Graziano Pelle followed by Shane Long's first goal for the club put Saints well on top at half time and in fairness they should have had the game out of sight long before the 45 minutes was up, only some great goalkeeping keeping Stoke still in the game.

The second half was always going to be about making sure that the Potters didn't get a way back into a game, but they were given hope just after the break when Saints backed off and N'Zonzi hit a low shot from distance that went in just perfectly, but Saints didn't crack and had a series of great chances which in truth they should have buried at least one although again Begovic in the Stoke goal was performing miracles to keep his side in it.

Then as the game headed for its final 20 minutes Stoke rallied, they did what Stoke sides have done since the days of Tony Pulis, they dished it out but couldnt take it, every Saints tackle saw the players surround the ref whether it was a foul or not and the crowd roar for everything, suddenly from a comfortable position Saints were on the rack a little as Stoke piled forward and won a succession of corners with Saints struggling to deal with the high ball into the box, anyone who claims that Stoke are no longer long ball and bullying tactics didn't have a leg to stand on in the latter stages and from literall the fifth corner in a row Stoke equalised.

Would Saints crumble, perhaps in the past, but not today, they held their nerve and Stoke's rabid display would be their undoing, Peter Crouch was rightly booked on 86 minutes as the Stoke players charged in to every tackle and when literally a minute later he dived in again a second yellow was the right decision, Stoke surrounded the ref and in doing so lost concentration, as Crouch would have been literally walking down the tunnel, from the resulting free kick the ball found Pelle who buried it from close range to send 2,500 travelling Saints fans behind the goal wild.

Although down to 10 men Stoke would now do what they knew best, route one, but Ronald Koeman came to life, perhaps with extra time in mind he had held back on substitutions, but now he brought on the fresh legs of Jack Cork and Toby Alderweireld right on the 90 as six minute of injury time were shown.

Stoke blustered but you had the feeling the tie had turned back in Saints favour and that even if it did go to extra time they would win it.

That wasn't needed though every Saints dug in and did their job and saw out the remaining minutes for a victory that you could see was vital written on the faces of the players.

A good win for Saints as again it showed they can dig in and win games when the going gets tough, yes it should have been dead and buried, but when it wasn't we hung on in there.

A mention for Matt Targett who I thought mgiht have come off with 15 -20 minutes to go to add the experience of Bertrand, but in the closing stages Targett was a rock, Stoke tried to take him on down the line but he kept winning tackles and hind sight shows us that it was right to leave him on.

Saints march on into the quarter finals, if this is meltdown give me more.

Photo: Action Images



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WestSussexSaint added 10:48 - Oct 30
A good gritty performance from the lads showing they know how to win. Pelle was superb (again) last night and you could see how pleased Shane Long was to get the goal monkey off his back. Pretty decent draw for the next round as well.
1

Scummer added 10:58 - Oct 30
Common's match management is pretty damn flawless. Once again the right substitutions at the right times to do a professional job, snuffing out a really spirited comeback from Stoke.
1

Scummer added 10:58 - Oct 30
Common = Koeman. Stupid autocorrect.
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halftimeorange added 11:22 - Oct 30
You refer several times to Stoke playing the long ball game but, last night, we did, too - generally to no good effect. Our game is best when we pass quickly up the pitch, as was evidenced by Long's goal. That long kickicking by Forster tactic, plus the recent addition of short corners (which also aren't working) bothers me. I was truly disappointed by Gardos who has looked most accomplished on previous appearances. Under pressure yesterday he cracked and caused us several scares. Tajic weaved his magic time and again and really is looking world class. Both full backs were excellent. Only sorry we didn't get Bournemouth in the next round.
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landsdownsaint added 11:44 - Oct 30
Credit should also go to our support last !
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SaintNick added 11:52 - Oct 30
halftimeorange, perhaps i should have been more clear, stoes long ball was more aimed into the penalty area where they looked to get one two or three men under it and put us under aerial threat, we played a more controlled game aimed at finding our men's feet
0

A1079 added 13:09 - Oct 30
Last night was one of the most memorable cup games I have attended in years. After the last 2 or 3 years I had almost succumbed to deciding that attending cup games was a waste of time, effort and money.

The match last night was sheer entertainment and it had almost everything. I could pick holes in some of our play and some individuals particularly in the 2nd half and clearly we were less than perfect, but that would be pedantic. Both sides contributed to a an exciting and entertaining match. Our support was great as well.

Pity the drive home was a complete nightmare, which took the gloss off the evening.
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TimSaint added 14:24 - Oct 30
Hi guys,
Still buzzing after last night's game and proud of the boys last night.
It was refreshing that the side wanting to play football won the game last night and justice that we won after the usual Stoke tactics. How proud Mark Hughes must feel in sending on his subs to kick lumps out of us. Crouch fouled before he even touched the ball and his two yellows were fully deserved and perhaps with the second, he could have easily had a straight red for taking Davis out at knee level. His first touch, or rather lack of it,caused the error. Adam's first contribution was a yellow for taking out Morgan. Ironically in the post match interviews, Hughes didn't attempt to defend Crouch, but instead gave a similar response to Saturday -good in 2nd half.

Listening to Talksport on the way home, it was particularly nice to hear that some Stoke fans had rest in to say they felt robbed and the referee cost them. Really ? Watch the incidents again and they will see that the offside was correct in the first half, the bookings were correct (but should have been many more, or different coloured) and it was justice that the Stoke defence gifted us our winner. It was great that the show then had Steve Davis call in and give his views on the match and for the rest of the season going forward. This was then backed up by a couple of good calls from Saints fans :-)
My daughter loved her first away game, even if the celebrations of the winning goal were a little wild :-)
The journey home was much quicker A1079 and we were back by 1am - unlike the way there that was a traffic jam from the M42 upwards.
Still all good though and despite us not being as clinical as I had asked for, we are through and have a decent draw despite being away again.
I SLEPT WELL KNOWING THAT THERE IS JUSTICE IN THIS WORLD AND THAT THE TEAM WANTING TO PLAY FOOTBALL WON THE DAY !!
3

saintmark1976 added 15:51 - Oct 30
After being at St Mary's on Saturday I posted that Stoke were abysmal and my sympathy was with their fans.I did not go last evening but it appears that they tried the same again ie kick lumps out of the opposition,thus it was a good tactic to have Wanyama start.Credit to Koeman.

In regard to Mark Hughes I do not envy his task in keeping Stoke in the Premiership.On the evidence of their tactics against us they must surely be a good bet for the drop.A shame when you consider that he was such a gifted player himself.
1

davepid added 18:21 - Oct 30
Blimey what a game of football. Great to be part of the fantastic saints supporters last night. as you say Nick the team seemed to value our support and the win.
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