Sunday, September 11, 2011

PINBALL AT THE BRITANNIA STADIUM

STOKE CITY FC 1 LIVERPOOL 0

Thrilled to bits with this result,although to secure it our fabled resilience,prodigious effort,and never say die/they shall not pass attitude,required the vital supplement of a generous helping of old fashioned good luck.

Liverpool were an entirely different propostion than when the came to The Brit last year.They were confident,spirited,pacey,and moved the ball around well at times.They had the chances to win this game many times over,but despite the evident class of many of their players they went away with nothing.

Suarez,Henderson and Adam were unable to take the chances that came their way,particularly in the second half. Pinball Time. In one 20 second burst the visitors could have scored five times.It seemed inevitable they would notch an equaliser.Henderson was played through one on one with Asmir Begovich.His first shot was saved point blank,his second effort from the rebound was pushed away by the keeper.His immediate third effort was blocked by Upson.From that Adam struck the ball goalward,Shawcross dumped on the floor by the force as he blocked the ball.Again the rebound saw Adam running in on goal,his second powerful effort being saved by our keeper this time with his feet.At the death,Suarez had a good chance but put his effort wide.

Stoke's winner came as early as the 25th minute.Jon Walters moved in on goal in the Liverpool penalty area.He was held back by Carragher,ref Clattenburg awarding the penalty immediately.As he had done at Norwich Walters grabbed the ball,unlike the Norwich penalty he made no mistake hammering the ball into the centre of the net,as Reina dived off to his right.

And the new boys?Crouch played the whole game,and made a tidy contribution to the proceedings.Matthew Upson looked assured throughout.Palacios added late reinforcement to the midfield,as we struggled against Liverpool's late effort to gain a point.

So we are still unbeaten so far this season,and find ourselves at the dizzying height of 4 th in the Premiership table.Thirty more points needed to stay up for a fifth season in the Prem!

PS1Were Liverpool unlucky with their penalty shouts? Late on Upson was involved in a close range ball to arm incident.Mr Clattenburg,notice the respect here,rightly called this one no penalty.I doubt that he even saw Rory Delap move the ball away with his hand earlier.Had he done so,there would have been no question..a certain penalty.I must remember that when what goes round comes around...to us!

PS2.The crowd chants just get better.....remember Capello advised Andy Carroll to cut down on the booze..."He's back from the pub,  He's back from the pub,......Andy Carroll, He's back from the pub !!!!" Pure magic.

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