Stoke win at the sudden death

Well what can you say…..?

Stoke City won Tuesday’s night’s rematch with Tamworth as only Stoke know how – with difficulty!

Tamworth played out of their league to hold Stoke to 1-1 after extra time with Nathan Jackson putting the home side ahead after 42 minutes. It was not until the 80th minute that Paul Gallagher finally managed to get the ball in the back of the net with a beautiful overhead kick that saved the Potters’ blushes.

It was always likely that there was not going to be many goals to separate the sides and when the two sides lined up for the penalty shoot-out, you still wondered quite how it was going to end up.

Both sides managed to put their first three spot kicks away and then Tamworth’s Eddie Anaclet had his shot saved by Steve Simonsen. All Kevin Harper had to do was score to virtually ensure Stoke’s survival but keeper Bevan saved the shot with his feet. Now into sudden death, Simo saved Michael Touhy’s weak kick and finally up strode Carl Hoefkens, who the Manager had not even got on the list of penalty takers as he had complained of a leg pain at the end of the game, and slotted the ball away with ease.

Stoke had plenty of chances in the game with Paul Gallagher shooting wide on several opportunities. The Bos really needs to get a grip on our lack of scoring ability without Sammy Bangoura.

Tonight, the luck was with us. Against Hull on Saturday and Walsall in the next round a week on Saturday, it might not be.