THE VERDICT: STOKE 0 TOWN 1 It’s Bac to winning ways at last for Town!
TOWN RATED COWLEY WAS GIVEN A RAPTUROUS RECEPTION AT THE FINAL WHISTLE FROM TRAVELLING TOWN FANS
JUNINHO Bacuna struck eight minutes from time to earn Town a vital first win of the season against fellow strugglers Stoke City.
The Dutchman latched on to a fine inside pass from fellow sub Adama Diakhaby to take one touch before firing high past keeper Adam Federici.
Town’s travelling 922 supporters erupted in delight at seeing their side victorious for the first time since February and, vitally, closer to the Championship survival line.
New boss Danny Cowley had talked before the game about having game changers on the bench, and Diakhaby and Bacuna certainly followed the script in front of a crowd of 20,372.
Cowley – given a rapturous reception at the end – named an unchanged starting line-up and bench as Town looked for a first win in six outings against Stoke City in all competitions.
Terence Kongolo (calf ), Alex Pritchard (knee) and Collin Quaner (hip) failed to make the cut and will be hoping to prove their fitness for Saturday’s home clash with Hull City.
Stoke boss Nathan Jones dropped mistakeprone England goalkeeper Jack Butland to the bench, giving Adam Federici the gloves.
There was no place for former Town captain Tommy Smith in the
Stoke line-up, but it did include Tom Ince – the man who scored the winner Town last won on a Saturday, against Watford on April 14, 2018.
Town missed a golden opportunity to open the scoring in the fifth minute, following an excellent Lewis O’Brien pass to release Karlan Grant down the left.
When he pulled the ball back, a slip in the home defence left Elias Kachunga with only the keeper to beat from eight yards – but he somehow pushed his leftfoot shot well wide.
Stoke responded with some patient build-up and were
Federici, Carter-Vickers, Batth, Martins Indi, McClean, B Ndiaye, Etebo, Allen (Duffy, 87), Clucas, Gregory (Powell, 81), Ince (Campbell, 59). Not used: Butland, Edwards, Lindsay, Woods.
rewarded with a shooting chance for Lee Gregory in the box which was superbly blocked by Christopher Schindler, before Ince blasted wide.
The teams then largely cancelled each other out, with a lot of covering and a lot of sideways passing, frustrating both sets of supporters. The match became very scrappy, not helped by a long delay for Trevoh Chalobah to receive treatment for a knee injury.
Two minutes before half time, Stoke should have taken the lead