Martin Spinks report in the Sentinel

[eddyclamp]

Don`t know if you have read it,gives the Baggies a bit back in the first few paragraphs and sums the game up well.
Can`t post a link as I am hopeless on computers.
happy xmas to you all.

[markscfc72]

its already on the match reports from papers thread but nevermind eh!

STOKE City go marching relentlessly on as Ricardo Fuller hammered a Christmas cracker of a hat-trick to sweep Albion aside at a joyous Britannia Stadium this afternoon.

Fuller struck twice before the break to put City on course for yet another victory against an Albion side winning only one of their last 23 league meetings with Stoke.

Fuller completed a brilliant treble by the 66th minute to all but kill Albion stone dead, but Roman Bednar's close-range header kept the pot boiling as Stoke were made to defend like titans throughout the second half to preserve a fantastic pre-Christmas success.



Stoke had no reason to change their winning line-up before kick-off as they began the afternoon with four wins and two draws to their name in their previous half-dozen outings.

Albion were in similarly brutal form after ascending to the top of the Championship seven days earlier, but still found room for goalkeeper Dean Kiely and former City favourite Carl Hoefkens at right-back following two games out with slight hamstring trouble.

The contest was launched on a flotilla of noise as the home contingent rose manfully to the gauntlet laid down by around 2,500 West Brom fans behind Kiely's goal.

Albion's early passing was soon in evidence, but not for long as City surged into a deafeningly-welcomed lead after Fuller picked up where he left off at Blackpool seven days previous.

Fuller himself had made the first incursion down the right before being out-muscled by two defenders, but Albion immediately lost possession to leave John Eustace guiding the ball towards the edge of the area.

Mama Sidibe flicked on exquisitely to not only wrong-foot Albion's back line, but leave Fuller escaping the offside flag to rattle lethally past the advancing Kiely.

Stoke continued to hound Albion at every opportunity - Eustace being especially prominent in that quarter - to prevent the visitors settling sufficiently enough to begin plotting a goal-scoring comeback after their shocking start to the afternoon.

Eustace and Andy Wilkinson were a little too rugged with Roman Bednar for the referee's liking, but Chris Brunt's 13th-minute free-kick was wafted far too long to symbolise Albion's distinctly modest start.

Stout defending by Hoefkens, with a fine back-tracking run and block, prevented Fuller breaking clear a second time as he looked to either shoot or cross from a tightening angle down the left channel.

Chris Brunt's foul earned a deserved yellow for halting Richard Cresswell's possible burst upfield on the break, but it wasn't long before the ball was deep in the Albion box anyway as Sidibe burrowed brilliantly behind their back line before cutting the ball back too far for two supporting colleagues.

Leon Cort's reassuring contribution in the opening quarter of the contest was under the microscope as he read the danger to clear after Zoltan Gera had wormed his way into menacing territory inside the Stoke area.

Albion's first real opening arrived in the 25th minute when Gera clipped the ball round the corner for Bednar to gallop freely down their right channel before clearing the bar by a good couple of yards.

Gera served further notice of his growing presence shortly after when turning on a Jonathan Greening pass to lash only a foot or two wide of Steve Simonsen's right-hand post.

Stoke appeared to be taking a bit of a breather as the Baggies asserted themselves approaching the half-hour mark, with Gera, almost inevitably, guiding a flashing header well over from Brunt's right-wing delivery.

Albion continued to dominate possession, but were kept sufficiently at arm's length for Brunt to crack well off beam from distance in what almost amounted to an act of desperation.

Far more convincing was Liam Lawrence's finish when he skirted in from the right and forced Kiely to merely beat away at his near post a minute later.

And Fuller very nearly broke the shackles down the right flank shortly afterwards, but Cesar's outstretched leg brought him crashing down to earn a second booking for the visitors.

And how Albion were made to pay. For Lawrence swung a long ball into a congested area from the subsequent free-kick which grazed off at least one head en route to Fuller just beyond the far post.

The Jamaican international needs no second invitation in his present form and, quickly controlling and exploiting what bit of time he had, Fuller lashed a beauty across the face of goal and inside the opposite post. An excellent finish bringing the house down again as City's partying supporters broke into volatile song once more.

The initiative remained firmly in Stoke's possession as Sidibe glanced on for Fuller to only just be out-muscled by Pele as the pair jostled for the stray ball within sight of the Albion area.

West Brom were threatening shortly before the break when Hoefkens was fouled by Cresswell, however, and Brunt's free-kick from the Albion right inspired yet another wonderful aerial intervention by the immaculate Cort to safely maintain City's two-goal advantage going into the break.

Tony Mowbray summoned the cavalry at the resumption by introducing the impressive talents of Kevin Phillips and Ishmael Miller for Filipe Teixeira and Brunt respectively.

Simonsen was soon punching clear a threatening cross from the Albion left as the visitors quickly set about retrieving their two-goal deficit in front of their re-awakened following behind the Stoke goal.

Stoke were continuing to work hard off the ball to spoil the play and minimise the time and space West Brom were enjoying as the baton remained firmly with the visitors since the break.

Simonsen's first save of the second half was a pretty routine effort in the 58th minute when he dropped comfortably on Robert Koren's first-time sweep from a Hoefkens cross from the West Brom right.

The Albion pressure was threatening to become ceaseless by the hour mark as a scuffed effort from Phillips, his first of the afternoon, took at least two deflections en route for a corner Stoke were to subsequently clear.

City were in need of some rousing and their fans answered the call to try to inspire a more encouraging passage of play for the over-worked hosts.

Cort's admirable first-half endeavours were back on show in the 64th minute when his head prevented Miller's nod down either finding the net or a close-range Albion boot.

City were relying almost exclusively on the break by now - and gloriously exploited that route to goal to knock Albion flat with a third from Fuller in the 66th minute.

Fuller gathered from Cresswell down the left channel and left one Albion shirt for dead by skirting in-field before driving low past the keeper's left hand to bring the Boothen End tumbling en masse into his grasp.

Stoke were in sheer dreamland now after absorbing a stiff period of pressure to catch Albion with a traditional sucker punch.

Great defending by Wilkinson and Cort left Miller's shot spooning conveniently into Simonsen's grasp as Stoke maintained their concentration in front of their own goal.

But Stoke's defences were to be finally breached in the 72nd minute when a half-cleared corner was lobbed back beyond the main thicket of players for Bednar to head home from close-range.

Albion clearly weren't out for the count just yet as Phillips rocketed one straight at the motionless and well-placed Simonsen from a few yards outside the area.

Stoke were vainly up in arms for a penalty in the 75th minute when Cort's huge up and under left Fuller forcing Pele to touch a bouncing ball with his hand inside his own box.

City were also aggrieved after Lawrence appeared to be fouled when losing possession for Koren to send Simsonen diving to his left to save at the second attempt barely a minute later.

Prolonged treatment for a stricken Fuller merely heightened a tension that reached fever pitch soon afterwards when Cort uncharacteristically scuffed his pass to leave Bednar free on goal, but Simonsen rapidly narrowed the angle to brilliantly block the eventual shot and spare his colleague's blushes.

And Bednar missed out again in the 87th minute when skewing wide of the near post as at least three Albion players spurned a possible shooting chance inside a congested box.

Fuller left to mammoth acclaim as Jon Parkin replaced him just seconds before the fourth official raised an electronic scoreboard showing an additional five minutes for Stoke's fatigued players.

But Stoke were to suffer no more shivers as they safely ushered in a simply terrific result.

VERDICT: Ricardo Fuller's blistering hat-trick prolonged Stoke's incredible record against the hapless Baggies on an afternoon of unconfined seasonal joy.

By MARTIN SPINKS

STOKE CITY 3 (Fuller 5, 38, 66)

WEST BROM 1 (Bednar 72)

TEAMS

Stoke: Simonsen, Wilkinson, Pugh, Cort, Shawcross, Lawrence, Eustace, Delap, Cresswell, Sidibe (Dickinson, 84), Fuller (Parkin, 90). Not used: Hoult, Zakuani, Pulis.

WBA: Kiely, Hoefkens, Robinson, Cesar ( Albrechtsen , 69), Pele, Koren, Greening, Gera, Teixeira (Philips, 46), Brunt (Miller, 46), Bednar. Not used: Steele, Albrechtsen, Morrison.

Referee: M Halsey (Herts)

Attendance: 18,420.

Bookings: Stoke - None. WBA - Brunt (foul, 17), Cesar (foul, 37)

[fuggers]

Spinks is a Pulis Apologist.

He would make out we deserved the win.

[KevinWhimper]

why are you such a dick

[Red and White Eyes]

"Fuller gathered from Cresswell down the left channel and left one Albion shirt for dead by skirting in-field before driving low past the keeper's left hand to bring the Boothen End tumbling en masse into his grasp".

Brilliant