Stoke Go Top! Stoke City FC3 Scunthorpe United 2

(Courtesy of Sky Sports)
At 7pm the 'voice of Radio Stoke Sport',Nigel Johnson wondered whether this match against the bottom club was a potential banana skin for The Potters.By 8.08pm,these appeared to be sage words indeed with Stoke already two goals down,and looking strangely disjointed as the visitors buzzed around purposefully.

Ex Stokie Martin Paterson - whose 13 goals this season following his summer move to Scunthorpe from the Potteries have pushed his value up near the £1m mark - opened the scoring in the 7th minute,running onto a pass over the Stoke defence from the right,beating Simonsen's despairing dive to his right.Things got worse on 23 minutes when Hobbs ran in late and unchallenged to meet a left wing corner,heading strongly into the Stoke net.

Tuesday's match against Southampton was very much a game of two contrasting halves.We were left hoping at half time that this game would be too!To begin with it looked like not a great deal had changed,but then on 53 minutes Stoke got themselves back into the game.A long Delap throw in from the right was headed on by a central defender as he attempted to clear.The ball reached Liam Lawrence who was unmarked on the left edge of the six yard box.His left foot shot found the back of the net to the great relief of the home crowd.With Cresswell on for the strangely lethargic Diao Stoke increased the tempo of their play and began to move the ball about the field to great effect.

In the 63rd minute Fuller was set free down the right.He chased the ball - which at one moment looked like a lost cause - managed to hook it back from the byline to the centre of goal.Cresswell took a touch before shooting goalwards.The ball ricocheted off a defender,and against the goal post on its way into the net.

Another piece of Fuller magic set up Stoke's winner four minutes later.Receiving the ball on the left he spun away from a defender and accelerated toward the byline.Leaving three defenders some what bewildered as to how he had got past them along the line. Fuller cut a short sharp pass to the incoming Lawrence who had no trouble scoring his twelfth goal of the season.

A brilliant night's entertainment witnessed by 20979 fans,most of them deliriously happy as their team went to the top of the league!