Massive thanks to Dan and the Stoke lads turning out with 11 - aswell as providing a ref, who may i say was great, Dan mentioned he got stick off of a few teams but i seriously cannot see why - every decision was spot on, and the offsides he called in the first 10 due to both sides having 11 men were spot on too.
First note is that Stoke are a top bunch of lads and i can't encourage enough teams to get fixtures against them - I know theyve had a few problems with getting commitment but they understand all aspects of the IFA down to a tee!
We had a slightly rejuvinated side with 2 of the regular lads having work, and another 5 injured, few lads stepped in who hadn't played IFA before, was, however, a good introduction to them. They understood the IFA Ethos.
We took the lead through a neat through ball to Harkin up front, who slotted it under the advancing goalkeeper. Stoke could have had a few goals however, with our defence making a few mistakes however Stoke strikers failed to capitalize. Their long throw ins - just like Stoke - were a thorn in our side however and if they get that right, they'll score a few from throw ins!
The second half produced alot more action, within the first few minutes and a Coventry change of shape, Stoke were back into the game, our defence had fell asleep and their captian i believe it was - Rory Delap we were calling him - was unmarked to knock it in at the back post.
We changed back to our original shape and were back in front within 10 minutes, bit of neat work from Matty Evans in the box, and Harkin nipped the ball off him to smash into the bottom corner. 2-1.
Literally 5 minutes later, Coventry had a corner, to which Harkin took and bizarrely caught the Keeper off his line and scored directly from the Corner. 3-1.
Stoke had 3 more chances, and failed to capitalize again.
Would recommend Stoke to anyone as i said, and the banter afterwards in the pub was top notch! Look forward to the return fixture.