BONY’S BONANZA
Wilfried double as Stoke hit mid-table
Wilfried Bony discovered the trick of scoring again in a Halloween encounter that must have brought it home to new manager Bob Bradley that Swansea are in for a gruelling season.
Stoke striker Bony ended a barren run stretching back 23 games to Boxing day last year by finding the net twice to inflict another damaging defeat on his old side.
for Stoke manager Mark Hughes, this was a third successive win to firmly banish memories of a horror start to the campaign. But for the goal frame, the victory could have been even more emphatic.
Joe Allen was superb again for the victors and his contribution to the third goal cannot be underestimated.
Put through by a delightful backheel from Marko Arnautovic, Allen saw his shot saved by lukasz fabianksi but fought to win the rebound ahead of Mike van der Hoorn. His chip back found the head of Bony, who made no mistake.
Stoke set about the game with the confidence you would expect of a team carrying back-to-back wins — attacking Swansea from the kick-off and forcing a corner inside three minutes.
from there, Hughes’ side went ahead and it did not need a soothsayer to predict the identity of the scorer. Bony had found the net on his two previous outings against his former club while playing for Manchester City and now returned to haunt them once again.
And as if to salt those wounds, the assist came from Allen, who could well have gone back to his boyhood club this summer had Swansea acted more decisively to sign him.
Xherdan Shaqiri’s corner was not cleared and Allen met the falling ball with a shot- come- cross into the six yard area. Bony, who had ghosted into the space left by Swansea’s fractured defence, fired his finish into the roof of the net.
it was the his first Stoke goal in eight games since signing on loan from City on transfer deadline day and Hughes had used his programme notes to insist the ivorian would go on a scoring run once he broke his duck.
ryan Shawcross drew a save from fabianski with a header soon after the opener but Stoke’s bright start was punctured by the softest of equalisers in the eighth minute.
Having kept two clean sheets in succession, the goal will have been particularly irritating to Hughes.
fernando llorente laid the ball back to Gylfi Sigurdsson who twisted for an opening and crossed into the box where Wayne routledge had muscled ahead of Phil Bardsley.
despite ceding five inches in height to the Stoke defender, Swansea’s 5ft 6in winger inger won the aerial duel to bury a header past lee ee Grant. Bardsley paidd the price for trying to wrestle routledge rather than challenge for the ball.
from there, Stoke continued to fashion chances while alsoo looking susceptible at the back. Bony hit a shothot that deflected just widede via a Neil Taylor deflectioni andd erik Pieters drilled one just off target from 40 yards.
in the 22nd minute, Arnautovic collected a fine pass from Pieters to tee up Charlie Adam on the edge of the area and the midfielder’s sweet strike hit the outside of the post.
Nine minutes later Adam found the opposite upright, seizing on a poor Kyle Naughton clearance, opening his body and bending a delicious shot that did not curl quite enough.
By now Shaqiri had gone off with an injury, replaced by ramadan Sobhi, the 19-year-old winger who Stoke signed in the summer. The egyptian eased what could have been a significant blow with a positive early contribution. He won possession off leroy fer and fed Allen superbly. Allen then played a terrific ball to Arnautovic, who had run in behind Alfie Mawson. The Austrian rounded fabianski but messed up the easy bit, skewing his finish against the post with the goal at his mercy. SigurSigurdsson was performinging his usual duties by testesting the opposition wwith efforts from range — twice doing enough to concern the hosts. Two minutes before the break routledge cchipped in, too. He collected a kknock- down from llllorente 20 yards out and produced a fierce shot that Grant did very wellll tot palm away. Three minutes after the break Bony passed up a great chance to reinstate Stoke’s lead by ballooning over the bar from Arnautovic’s pullback, but seven minutes later Swansea obliged Stoke with the goal they were searching for. Allen won possession and Adam fired a pass to the left wing. Sobhi jinked past Angel rangel and cut in a left-foot shot that was going wide until Mawson diverted into his own net.