Charlie Adam's first goal since November 24 offered Stoke City back-to-back victories for the first time since December and took them to the edge of keeping their Premier League place. Even though Stoke have now hit the 40-point mark long heralded by their manager, Tony Pulis, as enough to guarantee security, mathematically they're not yet safe. For Norwich City, six things away from underneath three, they also will still be looking over their shoulders, especially with a vital sport next Saturday against Aston Villa. Chris Hughton's area will have to improve considerably on this latest lacklustre absent performance since, with one victory on the road all period, they are fortunate to locate themselves out of the bottom three. Perhaps not once did the Stoke goalkeeper tested by them, Asmir Begovic, but then times of quality from each side were far and few between. The best moment of the game for Norwich got in the first fifteen minutes, when Robert Snodgrass, Grant Holt and Kei Kamara all blended to tee up Bradley Johnson for the woodwork was cleared by an edge-of-the-area left-foot shot. Stoke's best chance of the half followed immediately after, when an Adam corner was struck on the volley by Cameron Jerome from seven yards out, though into a crowd of players. There were muted cries for handball, but it was not a Norwich supply that was in the way. The rest of the half was littered with indiscretion, reprieved only on 42 minutes once the home crowd broke into a applause for the former Stoke midfielder Paul Ware, who passed away 10 days ago a' at age 42 a after a long fight against a brain tumor. Where the half-time whistle couldn't come easily enough, at least the second period was spiced up after only 50 seconds, and it was normal route-one stuff from Stoke. A lengthy ball pumped forward by Robert Huth found the head of Peter Crouch, who knocked into the area, and Adam stole set for an easy left-foot shot from eight yards. With just three goals scored inside their past eight away activities this season, there is precious little hope of a Norwich resurrection. Certainly, however for a miss of-the-season contender from Crouch, who did not join from four yards out in the minute, the scoreline could have been more emphatic.
Link: Pohang Steelers - FC Bunyodkor - AFC Asian Champions League
No comments:
Post a Comment