Game #43 (#44 for our visitors) sees our beloved Bluebirds back on home soil and ready to face the visit of Stoke City after what can only be described as a rather unexpected but welcome win in mid-week over play-off chasing Watford. What a difference 1 win can make..... whilst we blew the Hornets away with a first half attacking rampage (oh ok, it was a very good 15 - 20 minute 1st half spell) our visitors were being turned over at home on Tuesday night by relegation favourites Wigan. It's absolutely fair to say the Potters' form has been very erratic all season, culminating in yet another tedious mid-table esq season for them. They currently sit in 17th spot, 2 places and 7 points better off than ourselves, so victory for the Bluebirds could even ultimately see the Welsh Capital City club in a good position to leap frog our opponents by the end of season (well, one can hope). With just 1 win and a total of 5 points from their last 6 games it could be assumed that their players have pretty much downed tools and are thinking of their summer holidays. despit only being 9 points above the drop zone, with 9 still to play, their +4 goal difference is far superior to Reading's -19, so you'd expect safety for them to be assured. The potteries team do still have some very useful (if under performing) players in their side, so we best hope our SAS duo have the boys fired up and raring to go. Stoke City's William Small Bone was unimpressed with the oversized shirts, designed to protect them from UV rays whilst they see out their season. The game earlier this season at the B365 Stadium saw a topsy turvey game, with City taking the lead through Wintle in the 6th minute, but quickly being pegged back and overtaken with quickfire goals from Stoke on 11 & 18 minutes. City shared the spoils with an equaliser from Robinson on 58 minutes but the Bluebirds were maybe a little lucky to not concede a penalty for a challenge by Kipre on Liam Delap – son of former Potters stalwart Rory. Callum Robinson gestures to his mate and avid Bluebird King Charles in the crowd after scoring the City's equaliser. Last seasons corresponding game at the CCS saw City run out 2-1 winners with goals from Doyle and Hugill. City went behind but goals on 39 and 43 minutes from our loanees saw us take a lead we wouldn’t relinquish. The result saw City go level with a Stoke side that had been in the play-offs after a 3-3 at the Bet365 earlier in the season.. City having moved out from the relegation zone after that earlier encounter and drawing level on points in 16th/17th spots following this home victory. Let's hope our current crop of loanees can do the business again this Saturday. Early Bluebirds Team News After the unfounded doom and gloom of our injury woes in mid-week, this weekend could see a return for many of our lads that were missing from the last game, however, gaffer Sabri Lamouchi is playing his cards tight to his chest, giving little away to the media stating... "Our players, Stoke players, all players in the league are exhausted, because tomorrow is the sixth game in three weeks. "The end of the season is absolutely tough for all clubs, with suspension, injury, tired players. There are a lot of problems for all managers, squads and players. But, we must try to take the right decision and be positive. "Callum Robinson, Rubin Colwill and Connor Wickham will not be available for tomorrow. Jack Simpson, Jaden Philogene and Callum O'Dowda, we will see today. "Rallsy, our captain, giving his heart for this Club, there is a question mark on him as well. We will see at the end of the session today." So in conclusion, Lord knows what our starting line up will be. Prutton & Co Predict It seems this early Bluebird has caught Davey boy napping as no predictions are around at present... may get chance to update this section later but I'm sure the best we can hope for by way of prediction is a draw... and this despite his infatuation with our gaffer.... The bookies never sleep however, and they have us as favourites... but after their mid-week lack of faith do we really want to believe them??? Home Win 29/20 Draw 9/4 Away Win 19/10 Fun Fact The Stoke City squad once included a vicar in midfield. Father Elijah Smith took off his cassock to play for the Potters in the 1880s. The half-back, who was in charge of a church in Stoke, starred in the club's first ever league win, over Notts County – but he didn't bless the team with much luck on their travels. The vicar started 12 away league games and lost 11! Sharing The Love After covering some of our "big names" in the away thread, I was pleasantly surprised to find there were still a few decent ex-players to list here as well as a couple of current squad members. Top of the list (for us at least) has to be the mecurial Jay Bothroyd - what a player he turned out to be for us (and still our only full England international to date to be capped whilst playing for us). So, can we exact revenge for our 2002 play-off semi-final defeat (yes, it STILL hurts)? Will our fans be going potty at full time, knowing we've bagged another big 3 points?? Can we triumph amidst the hurley Burleigh of this championship tussle??? All I know is, I'm not sure my fingers can take another live City match after Wednesday's 2nd half, so I'm glad I'll be incommunicado on the south coast after tonight and watching Exmouth Town instead tomorrow.... If we can bag the 3 points we may well have just about made ourselves safe, so bring it on, C'mon City, do it for Clingo (please come back soon mate)!!!!!!!!! Bloooooooooooooobirds!!!!
So, I missed the game as I am down south with Mrs Brizzle. Took in Exmouth Town v Sholing instead. Sholing guaranteed 2nd spot and a play-off place. "Muff Town" safe in the division after promotion last year. Game finished 2-3 to Sholing. Muff Town conceding a few minutes before half time and then getting their fullback sent off minutes later. Half time was 0-1 but Sholing raced into a 0-3 lead in the 2nd half but the mighty Muffs scoring twice and almost grabbing a point despite being down a man. As for City.,.... Gutted Kaba missed the penalty as we could effectively have been safe.... Rotherham takes on huge significance again now!
City again started so slowly and negatively. City just don’t have the players to create anything through midfield with pace and as v Sland they didn’t compete for the loose balls. To miss any pen is clumsy, but to telegraph it so patently was poor. That seemed to knock the stuffing out of us. It was like City were happy with a point in the end. Very disappointing especially when some of the other results came in
The massive benefit of a 15 minute 3 goal purple patch to win the game at Watford has been blown apart by another ponderous performance at the CCS. It looked like Sunderland all over again in the same red and white striped shirts. We were slow in our thinking as well as over the ground and I got the impression that Lamouchi/Bamba were just hoping something positive would happen rather than making it. It almost seemed as though we'd settled for the point in case we lost it through positive action. Rhino and Davies should have come on for Sawyers and Kaba for at least the last 15/20 minutes. Sawyers was back to his worst and and Kaba was out on his feet after an hour. His penalty attempt was so telegraphed that I could see where he was going to put it from the stand. It was a decent save but he put it on a plate for the keeper who knew exactly where it was going. We can bame Kaba all day long for the loss of 2 points but the fact of the matter is we can't control a game as a team. O'Dowda tried to show the way but other than Wintle who at least had a go, no one else seemed on the same wavelength. At least the introduction of Philo brought a spark but it was snuffed out by the failings of others. If we stay up - and I still think we will - some serious work on the squad needs to be done to avoid a repeat of this rubbish next season.
I’ve put up on the championship thread the run ins for our rivals. Some teams play each other so will definitely drop points.
After yesterday's game, we should be going to Rotherham on Thursday needing a single point to guarantee staying up. If we managed that, the current bottom 3 couldn't have caught us barring a massive improvement in their goal differences. As it is, a win at Rotherham on Thursday will have the same effect. Our final two games should be relaxed and used to determine the "retained list" if we don't know it already. We've all got our opinions as to that, but I'm not sure that Lamouchi has a clear vision of what we have and need - I've got my doubts.
Not sure how many of our lot have big boy pants. Visit to M & S needed before Thursday. Hope Lamouchi has a Sparks card to get the best prices. VT will probably insist on Primark.
