Premier League
March 13, 2010
Stoke City
0 - 0
Aston Villa
Premier League
15:00 GMT, March 13, 2010
Britannia Stadium, England
Referee: K Friend
Defences on top at Britannia
Scoring Summary
| Stoke City | Aston Villa |
|---|
Teams
| Stoke City | Aston Villa |
|---|---|
| 29 Thomas Sorensen | 1 Brad Friedel |
| 3 Danny Higginbotham | 5 Richard Dunne |
| 25 Abdoulaye Faye | 29 James Collins |
| 22 Danny Collins | 25 Stephen Warnock |
| 4 Robert Huth | 24 Carlos Jimenez Cuellar |
| 18 Dean Whitehead | 19 Stiliyan Petrov |
| 6 Glenn Whelan | 8 James Milner |
| 26 Matthew Etherington | 6 Stewart Downing |
| 24 Rory Delap | 7 Ashley Young |
| 11 Mamady Sidibe | 10 John Carew |
| 20 Tuncay Sanli | 18 Emile Heskey |
| Substitutes | |
| 10 Ricardo Fuller | Luke Young 2 |
| 12 Dave Kitson | Steve Sidwell 4 |
| 7 Liam Lawrence | Habib Beye 23 |
| 28 Andy Wilkinson | Brad Guzan 22 |
| 14 Danny Pugh | Gabriel Agbonlahor 11 |
| 27 Asmir Begovic | Fabian Delph 16 |
| 42 Louis Moult | Nathan Delfouneso 14 |
| Substitutions | |
| Ricardo Fuller for Tuncay Sanli (54) | Gabriel Agbonlahor for John Carew (77) |
| Dave Kitson for Mamady Sidibe (54) | |
| Yellow Cards | |
| Carlos Jimenez Cuellar (11) | |
| Richard Dunne (24) | |
| James Milner (25) | |
| Stephen Warnock (56) | |
| · Squads: Stoke City | Aston Villa | |
Aston Villa missed the chance to reduce their deficit in the race for the final Champions League place after being held to a goalless draw at Stoke.
• O'Neill: We didn't do enough
The Britannia Stadium has become a tough venue for most visiting sides but for a team with aspirations of mixing it with Europe's elite next season Villa did not test goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen nearly enough.
Closest they came to making a breakthrough was three minutes after half-time when Stewart Downing's shot inadvertently deflected off team-mate John Carew but hit the side-netting with Sorensen wrong-footed.
With fourth-placed Tottenham winning earlier in the day the gap between them and Villa, in seventh, is now six points - although Martin O'Neill's team have two matches in hand.
If they are to make a bid for the top four, however, they are going to have to find a way of grinding out results in matches such as these.
So poor was the game that when the public address system, 15 minutes into the second half, advised one fan to attend hospital immediately as his wife had gone into labour there must have been plenty of supporters wishing they also had an excuse to leave early.
The first incident of note came in the 11th minute when Carlos Cuellar was booked for a lunging challenge on Matt Etherington as the winger tried to escape down the left touchline.
Ashley Young's near-post cross forced Danny Higginbotham to concede a corner six minutes later and James Collins' glancing header flew wide of the far post from Downing's cross.
Etherington then screwed a shot off target from the edge of the penalty area as both sides struggled to create anything resembling a clear-cut chance.
Richard Dunne and James Milner were booked in close succession for fouls on Tuncay Sanli and Rory Delap but on both occasions Stoke failed to threaten from the free-kicks.
The first shot on target came in the 27th minute when Stiliyan Petrov's low drive from outside the penalty area was saved low to his left by Sorensen.
Milner then flashed a shot on the turn over the crossbar after Downing threaded a pass down the inside-left channel into the penalty area, with Etherington next to shoot wide from 25 yards for Stoke.
The efforts typified a first half in which neither side gained proper control to take advantage.
Just after the restart Villa almost opened the scoring when Downing advanced before unleashing a shot which had Sorensen diving to his left before the ball deflected off Carew and flew into the near-post side-netting.
Thirteen minutes into the second half Pulis' double substitution did not please the home side but it was at least a positive move.
Britannia favourite Tuncay was replaced by Ricardo Fuller and Mamady Sidibe by Dave Kitson as Stoke's front two were changed.
Much has been made - most of it by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger - of Stoke's physical approach but when Warnock went into referee Kevin Friend's notebook for a tackle on Dean Whitehead the bookings count was 4-0 to Villa with less than an hour gone.
Fuller's first action saw him run parallel with the 18-yard line trailing three Villa players behind him before bobbling a shot into the arms of Brad Friedel.
The lack of quality was highlighted by Downing who seemed surprised when Warnock's left-wing cross reached him at the far post and his first touch bounced six yards away.
Fuller's cross-shot from the left had Brad Friedel at full-stretch to tip it away from the run of Glen Whelan as Stoke upped the tempo in the last quarter of the match.
Petrov became Villa's fifth booking for a body-check on Etherington and from the resulting free-kick James Collins' desperate block deflected Fuller's 10-yard shot over the crossbar.
Stoke continued to press and Warnock's diving tackle denied Higginbotham from a narrow angle.
Kitson's foul on Milner gave the England international a shooting opportunity 25 yards out but he curled the free-kick just wide.
Stoke defender Robert Huth could have snatched a win in the final minute but headed Etherington's corner over.
"We would love to have won the game but it was never going to be easy,'' said O'Neill. "Stoke are always very difficult, so maybe it was a reasonable outcome. There weren't many chances in the game and the wind didn't help matters.
"It was a tough afternoon. We defended very stoutly indeed and the game didn't have that many clear-cut chances. At the end of the day a draw was probably a fair result.''
Stoke have lost just once at home since the turn of the year - to Arsenal - and have had only two defeats at the Britannia since September 26. Potters boss Tony Pulis praised his side for their work-rate after a third match in a week.
"It was a very windy day and I thought the teams were very honest and committed,'' he said. "When it blows you it is ever so difficult. You think it is windy and cold up in that [main] stand but you get down by that pitch and it is very blustery.
"We've had a very busy period and a three-game week and when you catch a top team in your third game, it is always very difficult - especially when they haven't played in midweek.
"However, I thought we got stronger as the game wore on and in the last 30 minutes we were the stronger team and were the ones pushing forward and had the better opportunities.''
Pulis made a surprise double substitution early in the second half, removing crowd favourite Tuncay Sanli and Mamady Sidibe to send on a completely new front two of Ricardo Fuller and Dave Kitson.
Turkey international Tuncay showed his frustration after being withdrawn but Pulis said that did not bother him. "He's a great lad but it makes no difference to me what names they are or what they have or haven't got,'' added the Potters boss.
"It is all about the team for me, which is more important than any individual. I've never changed my philosophy and that's the way it will always be for me.''