Stoke blunt Blades

Stoke responded to the 1-0 defeat by Sheffield United at the Brit last month with an emphatic 3-0 win at Bramall Lane with goals from Richard Cresswell and Ryan Shawcross combining with an own goal from Blades' striker, James Beattie.

It took just under twenty minutes for the Potters to demolish a Blades team that have failed to live up to their billing this season as automatic promotion contenders. Cresswell put the visitors ahead on just two minutes with his seventh goal of the season. On five minutes, Leon Cort's shot deflected in off James Beattie to make it 2-0 and finally Shawcross finished the game off with just 20 minutes gone for his sixth goal of the season.

Never has victory tasted so sweet and the win lifts the Potters into the play-off zone and fifth position.

Sheff Utd: Kenny, Bardsley (Sharp 79), Kilgallon, Cahill, Naysmith (Stephen Quinn 55), Gillespie, Montgomery (Stead 23), Tonge, Armstrong, Beattie, Carney.
Subs not used: Gerrard, Lucketti

Stoke City: Simonsen, Pugh, Cort, Wilkinson (Zakuani 52), Shawcross, Eustace, Delap (Dickinson 90), Lawrence, Cresswell, Fuller, Sidibe (Parkin 88)
Subs not used: Hoult, Pericard

Apologies to all our readers for the very shortened coverage, especially as it's such a great win, but I'm currently over 5,000 miles away from the Potteries and even further from Sheffield.... let's see if we can repeat this victory with the visit of league leaders, Watford to the Brit on Sunday, when normal service should be resumed.

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