A decade has rarely felt so long as a Stoke City fan but weekend win proved we are a team in transition
LAST weekend was FA CUP quarterfinal weekend, not that Stoke have troubled the latter stages of the oldest cup competition in the world for many a long year.
In fact, it’s 10 years since that amazing, sunlit FA Cup quarterfinal at the Britannia Stadium which saw Stoke defeat West Ham 2-1 in a melting pot of an atmosphere.
Yes, a whole decade.
Those were exciting times, when every game was an event.
That isn’t how things feel right now. In fact, if I was to have to draw a parallel between the here and now and a similar period in recent Potters history it would have to be the spring of 2019 when Nathan Jones’ Stoke set a new club record of four consecutive goalless draws.
At the time we all hoped that was a porous defence turning a corner.
How wrong we were.
Saturday’s snorefest of a Championship game against Derby at least had a happy ending when Nick Powell produced one of those sublime bits of skill that we know he can to arc a ball across for Jacob Brown to power home a far-post header from three yards.
The good news was that Stoke deservedly won a match against a limited but stubborn opponent. As
Michael O’neill said afterwards, he wants to see more 1-0 wins. Too often we’ve been unable to break down a team like Derby.
It bodes well.
And the keeping of the clean sheet was a vital element in that. For the second game in a row, Adam Davies marshalled his defence to ensure a shutout was secured.
The match at Cardiff saw him very much feeling his way back in and he nearly dropped us in it figuratively and literally right at the death. But Davies brings a calmness to the players in front of him, which I, personally, just don’t feel they have with Angus Gunn behind them.
He was also out very quickly once again at the feet of Kieffer Moore to snuff out the prolific striker when he had one sniff of goal at the Cardiff
City Stadium, whilst remaining a peripheral figure on Saturday due to Derby’s general inability to create chances.
And of course Davies only lost his place initially due to injury. In fact, his record this season is remarkable; 10 clean sheets in 14 and a half games on the pitch for club and country. Impressive.
Having said that, Davies has also benefitted on his return from O’neill swapping from a back four which was all too easily carved open at Middlesbrough, to a back five, which has shut up shop effectively these past two matches.
More minutes will give him more confidence.
Slightly surprisingly at Cardiff, the Potters were by far the better side even with that more defensive formation and should have scored at least two, possibly three goals.
At least on Saturday Powell found a way to unpick a defence and create a chance which was put away. He is, without doubt, a genuine matchwinner.
But that is what happens when you are in transition.
Lots of draws, frustrating chances wasted and mid-table obscurity beckons.
All a long way from the days of a packed stadium, the Potters juggernaut rolling on and the passion of that Danny Higginbotham celebration when he slammed in the free-kick which sent us to Wembley and that date with destiny.
A decade has rarely felt so long.