Premier League - Ten-man Stoke beat City

Eurosport - Sat, 31 Jan 17:34:00 2009

Ten-man Stoke City overcame the sending off of Rory Delap to record a 1-0 Premier League victory over Manchester City at the Britannia.

2008-2009 Stoke City-Manchester City James Beattie celebrates his goal - 0

James Beattie headed the only goal deep in first-half stoppage time to lift the Potters out of the relegation zone.

Tony Pulis's men showed tremendous grit following Delap's 37th-minute dismissal and the crowd created the superb atmosphere that has helped Stoke collect all but three of their 24 points at home.

Stoke's toughness was personified by their stand-in skipper Amdy Faye, who collapsed to the turf after sickening clash of heads with Nedum Onuoha just after the half-hour mark.

Players from both sides were visibly alarmed and a three-minute stoppage followed, but amazingly the Senegalese midfielder continued, only coming off late on for Andy Griffin.

Four minutes after Faye's miraculous recovery, it was another Stoke player who left the fray in rather different circumstances.

Delap took exception to a late Shaun Wright-Phillips tackle and brought him down from behind before kicking the ball into the prostrate winger's body.

Referee Martin Atkinson had not sent a player off in the Premier League for over a year, but gave Delap his marching orders.

However, Wright-Phillips can count himself very lucky not to have seen at least a yellow card for kicking out at Delap immediately afterwards as players piled into the melee.

Stoke's numerical disadvantage appeared to galvanise them, as the crowd increased their noise to a raucous level and a sense of injustice spurred the home side on.

The breakthrough came in the fifth minute of stoppage time, when Glenn Whelan clipped a pass down the left flank for Matthew Etherington, who bent a superb cross to the back post.

Beattie peeled away from his marker and directed a superb header inside the right-hand post, his first goal for the club he joined from Sheffield United earlier in January.

New signing Craig Bellamy showed tremendous industry and endeavour, closing down defenders, chasing lost causes and - at times - linking up well with Robinho.

However, the Welshman fluffed his lines at the crucial moments, delivering a poor pass to his strike partner when City broke in the first half, resulting in a weak Robinho shot.

Then on 67 minutes, Bellamy volleyed high over the bar when a half-cleared header fell to him at the edge of the box.

Robinho fared little better a couple of minutes later, missing by an even greater margin from a similar position. Then Elano got in on the act, driving a 25-yard shot into the crowd.

Stoke deserve credit for restricting thee visitors to long shots, but City's lack of precision and finesse did not befit a side whose front three cost £55 million, with another £19m man, Jo, on the bench.

City's challenge petered out tamely and the recent run that saw them collect 10 out of a possible 12 points came to a shuddering halt.

The club's oil-rich owners will continue to spend, and the side may feature Shay Given and Roque Santa Cruz when they line up against Middlesbrough next weekend.

Alex Chick / Eurosport

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  1. IN YOUR REPORT YOU SAID THIS WAS BEATIES FIRST GOAL FOR STOKE CITY, IN FACT IT IS HIS SECOND, HE SCORED AGAINST SPURS LEST WEEK

    From IVOR, on Tue 3 Feb 5:10PM

  2. Another proof that money can't buy victory

    From scouter_x8, on Sun 1 Feb 12:14PM

  3. stoke city 1 joke city 0

    From moose1066, on Sun 1 Feb 11:41AM

  4. city should sack hughes and get a manager fit for city- joke-in-here (joe kinnear)

    From ripped of, on Sun 1 Feb 11:22AM

  5. maybe you should learn to spell Sheikh first steve mcqueen you D,I,C,K,

    From Chris W, on Sun 1 Feb 11:08AM

  6. Look at the eyes. There is no passion in mark Hughes eyes when he is in front of the cameras on match of the day! he is and always will be a Manchester United man. Someone out there find us a Brian Clough, Done Revie or even a sir Alex Furguson but not a yesterdays hero for another team. Now they will mess it all up and sell the young boys. Anyone remember Ian Rush? look what he went onto. City seem to make a habit of clearing thier own back yard in a bootsale, only to find out later that what they gave away was priceless. I AM REALLY FED UP

    From goff, on Sun 1 Feb 10:58AM

  7. get that up you you manc scum

    From gary r, on Sun 1 Feb 10:47AM

  8. Eat that Fahim!

    From fernandes.angelos, on Sun 1 Feb 6:44AM

  9. daz, you are a total prat (and glory hunting scum)

    From fergie, on Sun 1 Feb 5:58AM

  10. man city hate man utd for being a big global company supported by glory hunting idiots.

    yet man city are becoming that too.

    From fergie, on Sun 1 Feb 5:55AM

  11. What concerns me, is the fact that City couldn't win against 10 men. It seems that new arrivals are either showing up every week, or being talked about every week. This cannot be doing team morale much good. Joe Hart's not bad, neither are half the City team in all honesty, yet they could all be replaced if the owners get their way.
    It seems to me that being Manager of Man. City is one of the last jobs I'd want right now. I just want to see them get it right. I'm a United fan, and I'd love to see City up there with us.

    From David, on Sun 1 Feb 5:07AM

  12. go mark..please.

    From tom, on Sat 31 Jan 11:49PM

  13. ok, thats enough, i was for giving hughes time but 1.0 to stoke is the final straw,he should go..fall on ur sword mark, do the honorable thing and let us get on with whats got to be done...true blue, city till i die.

    From tom, on Sat 31 Jan 11:31PM

  14. money money money must be funny being man city cant buy decent players our fans are all scummy its a rich clubs world ha ha

    From DAZGGMU-RED-LEGEND-OF-YAHOO, on Sat 31 Jan 10:55PM

  15. liamchadwick go nightclubbing with robinho .its the only way you will get it

    From DAZGGMU-RED-LEGEND-OF-YAHOO, on Sat 31 Jan 10:53PM

  16. liamchadwick its because we care ha ha after all your giving us mancunians a bad name imagine people may assume that cos im from mcr i may support city how embarrassing is that ha ha

    From DAZGGMU-RED-LEGEND-OF-YAHOO, on Sat 31 Jan 10:52PM

  17. liamchadwick your blue scum end of nothing more nothing less check our score mate and our league position you will never get there or even be in the champions league so keep dreaming your a big team you muppet whats citys favourite tune by madness your an embarrassment which you are you imbecile

    From DAZGGMU-RED-LEGEND-OF-YAHOO, on Sat 31 Jan 10:48PM

  18. Mark Hughes LOOKED smarter than Tony Pulis in his sharp suit - but that was the only point of any kind he won today.

    From ERIC P, on Sat 31 Jan 10:23PM

  19. Now is not the time to get shot of Sparky-you will be sorry. He is not sure yet who is going to turn up in the dressing room. A couple of you have summed it up here by saying this is a team of individuals. Robinho still thinks he is on loan from Chelsea and you can see by the open mouths on the pitch that it is all a bit bewildering. Contrast this with a relatively cheap team like Everton who always give it a go. Go down the flanks and cross the ball, but this is hopeful down route one and it always comes back. Credit to Stoke who may not make it but they are another outfit having a go.

    From taff, on Sat 31 Jan 10:12PM

  20. im not a city fan but with that kind of money they should bring more superb manager like mourinho or avram grant...avram way better then hughes..atleast he can bring chelsea to champions league

    From Fahmi, on Sat 31 Jan 9:49PM
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