Crouch rides to rescue as fans turn on boss Rowett
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(56th) 6), Carvalho 6, Osborn 6; Murphy 6 Alvaro Morata A Madley Tottenham (A) January 8 Reading (A) January 12 GARY ROWETT insists he will fight for his job after his Stoke side scraped a third-round replay.
Veteran Peter Crouch grabbed his
201st career goal with a late volley to earn Rowett another shot at League One Shrewsbury.
Town started brighter and took the lead in first-half stoppage time from the spot through Ollie Norburn.
It fuelled the Stoke fans’ fury with chants including, “Gary Rowett get out of our club” and, “Gary Rowett your football is ***** ”.
It has pushed Rowett’s reign to near breaking-point as the club struggles to adjust after a decade in the Premier League.
But the Potters boss ended up relieved at earning a replay as he blamed the pitch and felt his triple substitution turned the game – including throwing on Crouch.
Rowett, who has won just eight of
26 Championship games this term, said: “It was always going to be difficult because of the negativity surrounding our recent form.
“The pitch was difficult – it was hard to move the ball quickly and to show the extra quality.
“I wanted to win to silence the critics and get some confidence and show a bit of pride.
“Ultimately we didn’t quite get that performance today but they have showed character at the end.
“We could easily have gone under but we got an equaliser and we live to fight another day.
“There were chants but it is not for me to sit down and start crying.
“We are still fighting to turn things around.”
Relegated Stoke, who sit in 14th slot, spent £46million on eight players this summer and six of them started here.
But it was hard to tell which was the former Premier League team.
The visitors should have broken the deadlock early on but James McClean fired wide from Tom Edwards’ cross.
Rowett’s side were made to pay as sub Aaron Amadi-Holloway was brought down by Edwards after McClean dribbled in his own box.
Norburn slammed in a low right-foot penalty for his seventh of the season.
Amadi-Holloway should have made it 2-0 with a header in the 57th minute which he put over.
Rowett’s triple substitution after 74 minutes saved the visitors.
All three combined four minutes later as Crouch volleyed in from close-range after Mame Diouf flicked on Tyrese Campbell’s cross.
The Stoke boss added: “The three subs made a big difference. They have changed the game.”
Town boss Sam Ricketts said: “We had the better chances and were so close. Our keeper had only one save to make.”