Leicester came to Stoke, to their credit, aiming to win the game,rather than putting 10 men behind the ball as others have done at the Britannia Stadium recently.
This made for an excellent game of football much enjoyed by the fans,Stoke eventually emerging worthy 4 - 2 winners.
The official man of the match was John Eustace who indeed played very well showing some of his old touch in the midfield,but for me the obvious selection was Ricardo Fuller,who made 3 goals for his colleagues,and scored one,a penalty,after he had been upended in the box.
Leicester opened the scoring with Kenton tapping in when Simonsen dropped the ball (little doubt for me that he was jostled as he tried to make the catch).Stoke soon equalised when Fuller played a delightful ball from the right into the path of Parkin who took the chance confidently.
10 minutes later Fuller was brought down in the box,took the penalty himself,sent the goalkeeper the wrong way and placed the ball in the net with ease.
On 58 minutes Leicester came back into the match when Hammond's shot was deflected past a helpless Simonsen in the Stoke goal.
Stoke responded by rolling up their sleeves and continuing to get stuck into Leicester.Their reward came when Fuller rolled the ball in from the left to Sidibe who was charging toward goal.The opportunity was identical to Parkin's earlier in the match.I must confess I fully expected the usual Sidibe outcome which we have seen many times this season ie the ball sails over the bar into the crowd or either side of the goal into the advertising boards.Sidibe had other ideas this time finishing every bit as confidently as Parkin had done earlier,placing the ball firmly into the net.
Stoke's final goal,the icing on the cake, came from Lawrence in added on time,from a Ricardo Fuller pass.
Stoke still remain 5 points from the playoffs, still in 9th place,and with 61 points
Stoke: Simonsen ,Hoefkens ,Zakuani ,Fortune ,Higginbotham ,Lawrence ,Eustace ,Russell (Dickinson ,46 ) ,Martin (Hendrie ,73 ) ,Parkin (Sidibe ,63 ) ,Fuller
Subs not used: Hoult,Vass,
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