Stoke City 2-2 Portsmouth

Stoke City 2-2 Portsmouth

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Stoke shared the points with fellow strugglers Portsmouth after a 2-2 draw at the Britannia Stadium this afternoon. All the goals came in the finalfifteen minutes of the game, with Croatian winger Niko Kranjcar giving Portsmouth the lead before a quick-fire brace fromstriker James Beattie turned the game in Stokes favour, the first coming from a dubious penalty and the second when Beattie was arguably offside. Portsmouth dramatically snatched a point though in injury time, with Stoke centre-back Ryan Shawcro s scoring an unfortunate own-goal, diverting Hermann Hreidar sons cro s-shot into the net.The giant flag travels round the stadium before kick-off Stoke manager Tony Pulis opted to make five changes to the side that lost 2-0 at Sunderland two weeks ago, with Danny Higginbotham, Danny Pugh and former Portsmouth player Amdy Faye coming into the side, while Mamady Sidibe and Liam Lawrence made their first league starts since December and October respectively, both having recovered from knee injuries. Portsmouth caretaker bo s Paul Hart named an unchanged side for his second game in charge, naming the same eleven players that triumphed 2-0 at home to Manchester City last week, a result that was their first win in ten games. The first half of the game was Davante Adams Jersey a dour affair, with both sides limited to half chances, the only shot on target coming mid-way through the half when Lawrence hit a tame free-kick straight at Portsmouth keeper David James, whorecently became the Premier Leagues highest appearance maker.Kranjcars scrap for the ball with former Portsmouth loanee Salif Diao was typical of the scrappy first half The visitors best moment of the half came in the very last minute of it, with 67 England forward Peter Crouch, who was, unsurprisingly,a constant aerial threat, bringing the ball down behind the Stoke defence. he was denied a fourteenth goal of the season, however, by a fantastic last-ditch tackle by Stoke captain Abdoulaye Faye, who once again excellentin the heart of defence. The performance by the band of the Staffordshire Regiment of the army, who were paraded on the pitch at half-time, seemed to do little to rouse the players of either side, with the game continuing in lacklustre fashion. With shots on target rarer that Mancunian Manchester United fans, Higginbotham had a rare chance for Stoke, the ball dropping for him fifteen yards out on his favoured left foot. The former Southampton man wasted the opportunity though, firing his half-volleyed effort well over Jamess cro sbar.Higginbotham fires over With fifteen minutes remaining, it seemed inevitable that the game would end goalle s, with neither side looking anything like scoring, though Portsmouth were beginning to enjoy the better of the po se sion of the ball. While the game to this point had been dull, what happened thereafter, however, was anything but, with the match exploding into life in dramatic fashion with three goals in the space of five minutes. Kranjcar, who had been largely quiet in the match, played a neat one-two with Pompey forward David Nugent to get in behind the Stoke backline, before cooling dispatching the chance, sliding the ball under the onrushing Stoke goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen. It seemed like the single goal would be enough to give the visitors a crucial three points, but just three minutes later Stoke were level. Under no pre sure after a long ball into the Portsmouth box, full-back Glen Johnson controlled the ball, to see referee Mike Jones, who sent off Stokes Ricardo Fuller for slapping teammate Andy Griffin at West Ham in January, immediately awarding Stoke a penalty, indicating that Johnson had handled the ball, despite being positioned a long way from the incident. The decision appears to be a poor one, as replays show that Johnson took the ball down with his chest. Lucky breaks have been few and far between for Stoke this season, and Beattie was never going to let this one pa s us by, stepping up to power the spot-kick hard and high to Jamess left to K.J. Wright Jersey level the scores. With the game suddenly alive, Stoke pushed forward in search of another, and were rewarded just two minutes after the penalty had been scored,Andy Wilkinson putting the ballinto the box after an excellent run down the right flank and Danny Pugh scuffing the resulting volley. Poacher extraordinaire Beattie was, as he has been for his whole career, in the right place at the right time, diverting Pughs strike into the open goal with a simple header at the back post. The Portsmouth players were incensed, claiming Beattie had strayed offside, though I would suggest he wasnt, as it would just be too much for Stoke to get two favourable refereeing decisions in the same match.Beattie scores his first goal and celebrates his second, his third and fourth for Stoke After seeing elation turn to despair in two short minutes, it is a credit to Portsmouth that they continued to attack Stoke in the games final minutes, and were able to earn the draw they deserved in the first of four minutes of injury time. With Stoke sitting deep, the ball broke toPortsmouth full-back Hreidar son on the left edge of the Stoke box, the Icelander hitting a powerful cro s-shot acro s the area. The ball struck Shawcro s, and bounced past the wrong-footed Sorensen and into the Stoke net, a goal that must cruelly go down as a Shawcro s own goal as Hreidar sons effort was drifting wide of the target.Portsmouth jubilantly celebrate their equaliser All being considered, a draw was a fair result, though one that suits Portsmouth more and sees them climb the Premier League table to fourteenth. Stoke stay seventeenth, one place clear of the relegation zone, though results elsewhere mean our cushion over the bottom three is extended to two points, though it was so close to being more. Next up for Stoke is a tricky away trip to Aston Villa, though Martin ONeils side have gone slightly off the boil recently. before a home game against Bolton continues our run of winnable home fixtures. One one from these two games would come in very handy, as we look to remain clear of the bottom three as the season draws towards its finish.Stoke Theo Riddick Jersey side: (4:4:1:1) SorensenWilkinson Shawcro s Abdoulaye Faye HigginbothamLawrence Amdy Faye Diao Pugh Sidibe BeattieSubstitutions: Tonge for Lawrence (66), Cre swell for Sidibe (84)Subs not used: Simonsen, Sonko, Whelan, Kitson, CamaraAttendance: Not available
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