BUTLAND’S A SPECTATOR IN BORE DRAW
IF JACK BUTLAND wants to stake a claim to be England’s first-choice keeper he needs busier afternoons than this.
Four successive clean sheets and an unbeaten run of seven matches have pushed Stoke into revival mode in the Championship.
Butland will join the England squad this week in good spirits but will he be razor-sharp?
Relegation-threatened Reading provided little in the way of a test as the wind howled and the rain whipped across the bet365 stadium.
Boos from the home fans rang out at the final whistle but from the perspective of Royals boss Jose Manuel Gomes, this was a point towards survival.
He said: “This was a fair result, a positive result. I didn’t like the game. It wasn’t a beautiful game. With the wind it is difficult, the ball moves alone.
“It is difficult for us to play. That is not an excuse. We are under pressure and I would like my players to play beautiful football but they are reminded we must not lose.”
Conditions were vile, so vile that one of the corner flags was almost horizontal.
Throw in the fact that Stoke’s run of seven without defeat includes six draws and that this was the third goalless game in a row and it is not hard to see why it ended in deadlock. Potters boss Nathan Jones said: “The conditions did play a part.
“I thought we played well in the first half. We missed chances, hit the bar and post but we lacked a cutting edge.”
Jones gave a first league start to Thibaud Verlinden, a teenage Belgian winger, who provided something different until he ran out of steam in the final quarter.
His manager described him as “outstanding”.
Unfortunately Verlinden, 19, will be left with one over-riding memory of his big moment – the header he sent wide from a James McClean cross.
The youngster was not the only player to put his head in his hands, though, as opportunities slipped away. Tom Ince hit a post, January signing Sam Vokes headed against the bar and sent a header wide while a McClean effort was pushed to safety by goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
Reading’s chances were few and far between.
John Swift sent a volley over the bar and in injury time Garath McCleary was inches wide with a low effort.
As Gomes said, a point each was the fairest result. STEVE McCLAREN avoided a bum steer as his super-subs rescued a precious point.
Jarrod Bowen’s first-half brace looked to have sealed victory for Nigel Adkins’ men.
But Rangers battled back to level with goals from Josh Scowen and Tomer Hemed – who both found the net just minutes after coming on.
They remain in relegation trouble but after seeing his side climb eight points above the drop zone McClaren said: “When you make subs you’re seen by fans as either a hero or a bum. The bench made a real difference today.
“Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.”
Hull cruised into a two-goal lead as Bowen, 22, took his tally to 21 for the season.
The first came after seven minutes as he fired in an angled drive from 15 yards.
It was two on the stroke of half-time as Bowen drilled past Joe Lumley.
The comeback started with a misplaced cross from Scowen in the 62nd minute which wrong-footed keeper David Marshall and flew in.
Hemed bundled home an 84th-minute equaliser.
Hull boss Adkins said: “It’s frustrating – we were in a great position and we should have gone on to score more.”