Crouch and Walters save Stoke blushes
STOKE have made it their style to play with a false No 9 this season but a change in tactic saw their forgotten one contribute to this win.
With Bojan, Marko Arnautovic and Xherdan Shaqiri wooing the Premier League, Peter Crouch, as traditional a frontman as they come, has been restricted to cup starts and set them on their way to victory over impressive League One side Doncaster.
Having fielded the same XI in the four matches since Christmas, Mark Hughes made nine changes. Another beneficiary, Jonathan Walters, drilled in the spectacular winning goal after Darren Ferguson’s spirited team bridged the 45 league places separating the sides by cancelling out Crouch’s 15th-minute opener and dominating thereafter.
‘It was a proper cup tie and I don’t think many people left before the end. It went to the wire and we had two great chances at the death,’ said Ferguson.
Doncaster’s equaliser, after Crouch deftly converted Joselu’s centre, had the Yorkshire club’s fans in a 13,299 crowd dreaming of a big scalp.
Defender Luke McCullough took the ball half the length of the field before squaring it to Nathan Tyson and when Stoke’s debutant Danish goalkeeper Jakob Haugaard parried his shot, the Doncaster man was quick to score from the rebound.
But as Doncaster sensed blood they were struck by Stoke’s spectacular counter-punch. A matter of seconds after Crouch got in an almighty tangle to poke over an unguarded goal, Walters spared his blushes by unleashing a 30yard howitzer.