Stoke City v West Ham - FA Cup Match Thread

Phew! Ba not in the starting XI, if anyone is going to score against us now it will be Parker.

 

1-0

 

JESUS CHRIST, BLOODY BLIND OFFICIALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hand of god job mark 2.

 

Hey Jub.....came good in the end didn't it?....hehehe

 

Great result, GGGOOOOOAAAAAARRRRNNNN Stoke.

 

Norfolk,

Hahaha! Thank god it did! I nearly had a fit watching it. Now I can't stop smiling, I've just been up the park of ours whistling 'que sera que sera'

 

Wembley, Wembley. We're the famous Stoke City and we're going to Wembley. Wembley, Wembley

 

Thought fuller was fantastic for us, didn't you Sarge?

 

Well he did get his tackle in.

 

Should've squared to Matty to finish the game off, won a throw. About as much as I expected to be honest.

 

Ethers was our best player IMO as usual, Pennant a close second. Great too see Higgy get stuck in.

 

We'll play how we want, we'll play how we want, we're Stoke City we'll play how we want.

We played very well today, played some decent stuff at times as well. Matty should've scored early on, after a superb cross from Pennant. Took the lead with a throw in. Shows what I know, as I said just before Rory took it, that he's never been effective from that angle!!! Bad marking from West Ham allowing Huth to ghost in and score. West Ham then suddenly break away and handball their way into the net, I haven't seen it back but live it looked handball plus my brother saw the replay at half time and said it was so that's good enough for me. Second half started with a bang, with Matty winning a penalty, but I just knew he'd miss it, his penalties are in general quite poor. Then came the free kick for the goal, fantastic effort from Green to keep it out but there was just too much venom on the shot from Higgy. Then the last 20 were just torture, with us sitting soooooooo deep, I thought an equaliser was inevitable, and it looked like they should've had a penalty. Well what goes round comes around as they say. They pounded the goal but we stayed resolute, Tommy was secure, winding the Hammers fans up in the process. We had a chance to finish it off when Fuller came on and he, as ever, decided to do the impossible instead of playing Matty in to finish it. Then blissfully the final whistle went, cue singing.

Man of the Match: Glenn Whelan. He was superb. Tackled well, worked hard, played some lovely neat passes. Take a bow son, that's the best game i've seen him have since Man City in the 5th Round replay last season.

 

Agree with most of that Sgt.....It was defo hand ball....cheating gits.
MoM for me was Matty,Glen had a good game aswell.

 

Man of the Match - Ethers.

 

A great day i have lost my voice and them last 10 minutes were sheer hell.Well done to Tony Pulis for getting us to our first Semi Since 72.I have a few more beers in to celebrate what is a brilliant acheivement.As for the match 11 hero's in my book.

We'll play how we want, we'll play how we want, we're Stoke City we'll play how we want.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/12733140.stm?

Stoke City manager Tony Pulis said a team talk from World Cup winner Gordon Banks inspired the Potters to their 2-1 FA Cup quarter-final win over West Ham.

"Gordon relaxed the players before the game, which was really nice," Pulis told BBC Radio Stoke.

"What an honour it is to have a man of his stature still supporting us."

Banks saved a penalty from Geoff Hurst when City beat the Hammers in a League Cup semi-final replay in 1972 en route to their only ever major trophy.

In addition to Banks's appearance in the City dressing room, Denis Smith and Jimmy Greenhoff, who also played in the League Cup winning side of 1972, and former manager Lou Macari visited the Stoke training ground in the week leading to the sixth-round clash with the Hammers.

"It's been lovely to see the old boys, they're Stoke through and through," added Pulis.

A Danny Higginbotham free-kick booked Stoke their first FA Cup semi-final in 39 years after Frederic Piquionne cancelled out Robert Huth's opener at the Britannia Stadium.

"I'm pleased for everybody at the football club," said former Gillingham, Portsmouth and Plymouth boss Pulis.

"This has been a fantastic period for us and it's only going to get better.

"The players have got fantastic spirit and character. They are a good group."

Stoke now meet Bolton in the last four at Wembley, with the Potters looking to reach their first ever FA Cup final and book a place in next season's Europa League.

"Bolton are a fantastic football club with good players and a very good manager," said Pulis.

"They have been in the Premier League a lot longer than us and they have got more established players, but that doesn't mean that we haven't got an outstanding chance."

 

http://www.stokecityfc.com/page/NewsDetail/0,,10310~2315805,00.html? - Coates on the West Ham game

 

http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/clubfootball/news/newsid=1399860.html?cid=rssfeed&att=

West Ham manager Avram Grant has been charged with improper conduct following his criticism of referee Mike Jones in the Hammers' FA Cup defeat by Stoke last weekend, the FA confirmed on Wednesday.

Grant accused Jones of favouring Stoke after the official failed to spot a handball when Frederic Piquionne equalised for West Ham in the first half.

"Maybe this [Piquionne's goal] is the reason the referee started the second half very, very strange. Until they scored the goal, he gave fouls and penalties, everything for them," Grant was quoted as saying.

Grant said Jones had also shied away from giving the Hammers a penalty late in the game when James Tomkins was hauled down by Jon Walters in the area. "It was a penalty for us at the end and he didn't give it. Maybe he felt a little bit weak," Grant said.

If found guilty, Grant faces being banned from the dugout.