After Boxing Day in Blackburn, we'd added another young un to the injury list, Chris Rigg. Allegedly it's not serious, but it's still not what we need. He's just become the highest scoring 17-year-old ever in the championship, surpassing golfer Gareth Bale. Plus, Chris isn't 18 till June.
In recent weeks I have talked about Adil getting more minutes. Could this be a case of Careful what you wish for? There was always the wacky plan of pushing LO9 into midfield somewhere like the days of old. Hang on Gary. Don't panic.
Aouchiche (I've learned to spell it) and Aleksic were our fresh faces on the team sheet. I was a bit surprised Roberts was dropped. The lads were looking to make it our third consecutive league victory against Stoke since the 1930's. Stoke had also lost their final league game for the calendar year for the last eight years running. Whereas we were the opposite - unbeaten for the last eight years.
Managerless Stoke haven't won since November too. Ominously that last win was against none other than Blackburn. To further that mild dread they'd also beaten Rooney's Pompey 6-1 a month earlier. Are you picking up what I'm putting down? Tread lightly.
We went in confident from our last couple of bounce backs. Whilst also knowing what managerless teams can do when they are backed into a corner. The overall team spirit of late has been excellent, apart from our first 20 minutes of play in the last few games. We're good at playing counters and tracking back but our high lines have led to too much space behind the wide men.
That press we had earlier in the season has been rumbled by many an opponent since. We've learned to fight back, which is a good quality. In short - we need to learn to come out of the traps better. Am I simply saying we need to play better in the first 20 minutes? Basically, yeh. We've also struggled to deal with more than a few high balls in from a set piece. Stoke aren't known for those, are they?
Proper Kick off time. Could we do it on a cold, gloomy day in Stoke?
I missed the opening five mins. I've only had three days off over Christmas but I've still managed to get bored. So, I've finally gotten round to do all the jobs I've been putting off for months that I said would 'only take five minutes'. Forty minutes into said 'five minute' job I finally finished it. It's always the last screw that doesn't want to go in.
Stats told me I hadn't missed much. It was a fairly bland back forth for the opening fifteen. Adil looked confident in possession down the left and came close to finding Issy on a couple of occasions. Tommy Cannon caused problems, running in behind into the wide space I keep harpin on about.
Half an hour in we we're pretty level having caused them slightly more problems. Aleksic who had struggled to find his feet suddenly found them and showed us just what they could do with a storming running into their half, before blazing straight at their keeper. Decent. Issy followed it up minutes later with a toe poke off the post. He doesn't do normal goals.
Stoke’s only plan seemed to be to get a long ball over the top to Cannon. They finally managed their first proper shot on target after a mix up between Meps and 09. Patto dealt with it easily. Then Captain Dan then tested their keeper with a strong strike from edge of the box. Better but not much.
Adil had rightly been appointed our designated corner taker and was doing well so far. He whipped our sixth of the afternoon into a promising area but we didn't connect. The replay showed Burger trying to steal Chris Mephams shirt off his back. Surely he could afford his own? A blatant penalty. No VAR yet though lads. The ref blew to end the first half goalless. Stoke broke their silence to boo the officials. They had nowt to make noise about I suppose. Our travelling wall of noise was in such fine voice it sounded like a home game.
Half time. Time to tidy up after that 'five minute job' mess I made...
After my tinnitus died down from using the worlds loudest industrial hoover - Titan, I sat down for the second half.
Both the Stoke players and fans seemed to wake up in the second half. Stoke made a claim for a much softer penalty than ours in the first half. I know I'm biased but the replays don't lie. The Potters began to play like a home side and had obviously heard about us liking to score early in the second half. They really had us on the back foot with a home goal looking inevitable. Briefly.
They played on our inability to deal with high balls and we began to look leggy. Mepham saved our bacon with a brilliant clearance in the six-yard box. Then we hit the post for the second time. Substitutions please RLB.
Ask and ye shall receive. Cirkin made way for Alese and Aleksić made way for Roberts. Howay Paddy, have at em. Mayenda looked knackered to me and RLB clearly thought the same, swapping him for Connolly on the 76th.
Issy broke, played in Aouchiche who crossed above the heads of our attackers. Not a bad cross, we just have short players. Paddy mazed into the box and won a corner. I swooped in to the back post but was keeper punched it away in a very angry fashion. Is every ok at home? Our fans piped up and the stoke fans fell back to sleep. Still neither side seemed content with a point. Old man Gooch left the pitch to some boos and some applause. They took their time with subs while and all the Stoke players went over to the dugout to look at someone's new etcher sketch they'd got for Christmas.
85 mins to go and Stoke fans moaned anytime anything didn't go their way. We'd been playing pretty Narrow all afternoon I thought. Stokes ariel style of play and had thwarted us and we'd really struggled to win the second ball.
Four minutes added time. But the home side only needed 1. Nonsense from the Potters ensued. As Fatha says - 'Bugger'
A last gasp cross from Roberts and Mepham had another crack at a goal. But he met the ball with a defender’s strike. Put your laces through it man. I can't stay mad at him though. The keeper caught ball and also caught O'9. They ended up in a taggle with the angry goalie rolling around on the deck like he was on fire. Perhaps Stoke need to put in a welfare check on him.
Game over.
It's been a busy festive period and we've really dug in our last few matches so it's disappointing. We look tired and struggled to keep up. No side really deserved the three points. Yes, we hit the post twice and missed a free header, but a miss is a miss is a miss. Misses don't win games. Positives takeaways? We got some fresh legs on the field. Aouchiche got some good crosses in and Aleksic showed decent pace.
Its clear we still need a striker. All that time we wasted chasing that French bloke in the summer has left a bitter taste in our mouths. At the halfway point of the season, I'd have hope for a better result. We should be looking to batter sides like Stoke.
We simply didn't get the job done. Decent build up at times, good balls into the box. But what's that old adage? 'It's always the last screw that doesn't want to go in'
Keep the faith
GPD
