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Stoke City Bet 365 Stadium 2/1/2023
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Stoke City 0 Preston North End 1 Evans

Stoke City line-up: Bonham; Wilmot, Souttar, Fox; Clarke, Baker (Laurent, 79), Thompson, Smallone, Tymon; Campbell (Powell, 74), Brown (Delap, 65). Subs not used: Bursik, Kilkenny, Fosu, Taylor.

PNE line-up: Woodman; DIaby, Lindsay, Hughes; Browne (Ledson 90+6), Whiteman, McCann, Johnson, Fernández; Riis (Woodburn, 23), Evans. Subs not used: Cornell, Cunningham, Bauer, Cross-Adair, Potts.

Attendance: 20,034 (1,606 PNE fans)

Referee: Mr L Doughty.

A game that will not live long in the memory which was preceded by a near three hour journey to the Potteries via all points in rural Cheshire.
Crashes near Wigan and Stoke meant a roundabout trip to the Bet 365 and the rarity of a 3.15 kick off which you only tended to get at Bury many years ago.
The game was a shocker, to say it was poor was an understatement but we ended up with three points which you will take all day. The Bet 365 stadium was like a morgue barely any noise from the home support possibly getting used to our Alex's positie brand of football, mind you ours is not exactly Brazil 1970.
We started off fairly well with Riis looking loke he was getting back to some form, however Riis went off injured after an accidental collision with those electronic advertising boards, we didn't have the same fluency following his departure.
The home side had a glimmer of chance after we nearly cocked up a goal kick but were as toothless as us up front, although should really have taken the lead on the stroke of half time, Campbell tame effort from close in was kicked off the line by the Wodman who had already committed to a dive to the right.
We kicked off the second half pumped a high ball forward to were 6ft7ins centre back Souttar easily won the header, against our diminutive forwards. It was a sign of things to come the ball pumped skywards by both sides occasionally football did break out but mediocrity soon returned, lost  count of the number of times a misplaced pass ended up out of play.
We managed to annoy the home fans as is the tradition with away teams, they looked more likely to win it but cannot remamber Woodman having to make any meaningful saves. As the game drifted towards a close we had a great chance, Eoodburn played through tried to chip teh keeper but Bonham made a really good save to deny him.
Would have settled for a point but in the 93rd minute a corner was delivered to the near post Ched was there flicked header in she goes 1 up.
A horrible game but cannot argue with three points.
Fifth visit to the ground on the hill, fifth time I've won there.
Mention for Ched worked his nadgers off, 10 year contract incoming

Stoke City manager Alex Neil told BBC Radio Stoke:

"It wasn't a game we deserved to lose, but we have a habit of taking games we don't deserve to lose and turning them into a loss.

"I thought we had three really good chances in the game, which we don't take, and you always leave yourselves open to a sucker-punch at the end and that's exactly how it panned out.

"I understand the disappointment and frustration [of fans], but this isn't an issue that's been here for a short period of time, it has been here a lot longer.

"We're doing everything we can to try and remedy it, and hopefully if we can find ourselves on the right side of some of the key moments in games then it will change things in our favour."

Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"The performance was all about character today. We've had a tough two weeks, let's not kid ourselves, it's what the Championship brings up.

"We've had a few injuries and a bit of bad luck because we've still been playing OK, but sometimes you need that little bit of resilience from the group.

"I said to them before the game, 'Tough times don't last, but tough people do,' and that's what we've got in abundance.

"I thought there was loads of character, some good football, but the football's irrelevant - it's just the three points, that's the main thing."
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Messages In This Thread
Stoke City Bet 365 Stadium 2/1/2023 - by themaclad - 01-01-2023, 10:44
RE: Stoke City Bet 365 Stadium 2/1/2023 - by themaclad - 02-01-2023, 22:47
RE: Stoke City Bet 365 Stadium 2/1/2023 - by themaclad - 03-01-2023, 17:28

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