Stoke City 1 Reading 0! Div1 Status Secure

The stage was set, Stoke needed only 1 Point to guarentee safety which in the end proved irrelevant anyway with Brighton managing only a draw.

The sun was shining and it was nice and warm in the potteries, heavy wind but a warm comfortable one. The atmosphere was electric around the ground and inside as the crowd set out to do their bit for the cause.

From the minute Stoke came out of the tunnel you knew it would be their day. They looked unusually up for it and indeed were. Lots of running, lots of pressure when they didn't have the ball and most of all - not sitting back and letting Reading come at us.

We posed a threat up front, our midfield was battling with creative wingers and a solid defence. Pulis opted for a four four two formation as shown, introducing Lewis Neal into the starting 11.


That to me, is a good side and it's suprising that Stoke were even in the situation where relegation was entirely possible on the last day.

With the atmosphere going, Stoke worked hard - tackles flying in from all angles as they battled for the win. It was a game of grit rather than chances but when the clear cut chance came, it was taken. Lewis Neal taking advantage of some misjudgement in the Reading defence, and Akinbiyi getting himself into a great position to meet the perfect cross and head home a powerful header from about 7 yards.

The Stadium erupted.

Reading came at Stoke near the end, but we managed to clear everything and hit on the break, Peter Hoekstra being instromental and even giving the crowd something to get excited about.

In front of the Sky Cameras, Stoke City showed what a great football club it is. (Even if some pillock in the studio was suggesting the lap of honour was a silent one, because his image was only of the away end!) The Stadium is fantastic, the fans today were second to none, the players gave it their all and beat a side who are 4th in the table when it mattered. I'm particuarly excited about next season.

Tony Pulis' Barmy Army!

*Stoke City MAD would like to thank Mark Crossley and Ade Akinbiyi without whom, we may have not been in this position this afternoon.