THE TIE IS HIGH FOR BLONDY
Picture this, rookie to tackle Spurs
Powell heads home the winner Below: Teen keeper Blondy
STOKE’S goalkeeper crisis could see 19-year-old rookie Blondy Nna Noukeu thrust into action against Tottenham in the Carabao Cup.
No fewer than SEVEN different keepers have appeared in the Stoke squad this season – and most of them have been blighted by injury.
And if their latest emergency keeper Andy Lonergan doesn’t recover from a bout of flu in time, Noukeu will make his first-team debut for the Potters against Spurs in the Carabao Cup quarter-final on Wednesday night.
The Cameroon-born keeper was on the bench for Stoke’s Championship win over Blackburn, when an early header by Nick Powell provided the perfect start.
After that, a dogs-of-war defensive display kept out rampant Rovers, with Stoke notching up their 23rd clean sheet in 46 league and cup games in 2020, the best record in the country.
But it’s the constant keeper crisis that preoccupies boss Michael O’Neill, who has three injured. And 20-year-old stand-in Joe Bursik is cup-tied after playing for Doncaster in the League Cup while out on loan. O’Neill said:
“We have all these injured goalkeepers and it’s very difficult. We brought in free agent Andy Lonergan, but he has had a virus over the last 24 to 48 hours. Hopefully, he’ll be OK for the Spurs game. Otherwise, it’s Blondy in goal.”
First-team keeper Adam Davies has a knee injury, loan cover Angus Gunn an ankle problem, and emergency keeper Niki Maenpaa has hurt his thumb. Veteran keeper Lonergan, a free agent after leaving Liverpool, was brought in – only for the 37-year-old to go down with the lurgy.
Nathan Broome, Stoke’s 18-year-old youth keeper, has been sidelined with a shoulder injury. And before all this merry-go-round began, one-time England keeper Jack Butland was out with back trouble before his transfer to Crystal Palace. But despite such woes Rovers could not find a way through and boss Tony Mowbray could only admire Stoke’s “organised” display.
“Michael was used to that with Northern Ireland, and his clean sheet record at Stoke shows that,” he said STOKE: Bursik 6, Collins 7, Souttar 7, Chester 7, Fox 6, Tymon 6, Cousins 6, Ince 6 (Thompson 75, 5), Powell 8 (Oakley-Boothe 66, 6), Brown 5 (McClean 66, 6), Fletcher 7 (Vokes 75)
Kaminsky 6, Nyambe 7 (Buckley 78), Lenihan 6, Johnson 6, Douglas 7, Holtby 6 (Butterworth 65, 6), Trybull 5 (Downing 65, 6), Rothwell 6 (Chapman 85), Elliott 8, Armstrong 7, Gallagher 6 (Dolan 65, 6)
RYAN HARDIE was relieved to end Argyle’s six-match losing streak in the league by ending his own goal-drought.
The on-loan Blackpool striker scored for the first time in 13 games.
He said: “It meant a lot to me, I’d not scored in a while.
“After the run we’d been on, it’s massive.”
Dons sub Andrew Surman complained: “To lose 1-0 again is really frustrating.”