Stoke City vs Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Stu]

tl;dr

Didn't we used to have a sticky where people could put up their marks out of 10 for each player?

[PeterWithesShin]

In fact whenever I miss a match, Bowery plays. I think I've yet to see him play. How's he looking? Not good enough? Useful squad player or potentially more than that?

From the limited occasions I've seen him he's been they type who works his arse off running about but struggles to do anything too useful with the ball, a bit like Gabby on a bad day. He's still got time to improve, mind.

He did one pull down that was world class. He's a useful squad player, probably won't ever be more but for the money we're doing alright. 100% record with him starting games as well I think.

[Smirker]

Will the game be available to download online anywhere? Missed it and would like to watch it back in full if possible. Cheers.

[PeterWithesShin]

Has to be one of the most perfect awaydays ever. Good company up there, no traffic at all. Glorious weather so we sat on the bank by the away end watching the world go by. Into the ground, friendly police and stewards. Fantastic seat. Unlike Mr Sox who had a crap one down the front next to the nutters. Cracking atmosphere, 70 minutes of dominating the game where we should have scored a lot more than the one. Then 10 minutes of the scary Villa and then two late goals. Fantastic fun in the away end. Friendly stewards and police leaving the ground.
Still sunny outside, met a bloodied Mr Sox, thanks to the aforementioned nutters, at the gates. leisurely walk back to the car park chatting to some very nice Stoke fans.

No traffic back to Brum, and home quicker than it sometimes takes to get home from VP on the buses.

Mr Plastic Away Fan loved it. A massive thank you to Mr Sox and Leeg. Much appreciated and i'm in your debt.

[dicedlam]

I did my usual, in that on 70 i buggered off from all communication and we won again. It is working well!


From what I saw, I thought Shawcross and Huth, perhaps inevitably, shackled the big man well until, well, boom.

Gabby ran his arse off first half.

Bowery did well and held up the ball, brought the midfield into play and helped us get control of the ball.

Bennett had a good game - said it on the thread,we have to get him more involved in whipping the ball in, he has a wand of a left foot that one day will make him a top player.

Weimann was quiet but worked his arse off.

Westwood and Delph are a really good partnership. Milner with them just in front would be the bomb.

I hope those banging on that the likes of Westwood, Lowton, Bennett, Vlaar etc are not up to it will ease off on them. They could be excellent next season with a bit of confidence if we can survive this. Lambert is a good manager in my opinion, streets better than TSM last season and the O'Neill that left us. We need to stick with this group, they are showing they have guts too. Stay up and use a bit of the new TV cash, free up more wages from those who offer nothing and trust Lambert to go again.

To the word ozzjim. Spot on.

[Somniloquism]

Has to be one of the most perfect awaydays ever. Good company up there, no traffic at all. Glorious weather so we sat on the bank by the away end watching the world go by. Into the ground, friendly police and stewards. Fantastic seat. Unlike Mr Sox who had a crap one down the front next to the nutters. Cracking atmosphere, 70 minutes of dominating the game where we should have scored a lot more than the one. Then 10 minutes of the scary Villa and then two late goals. Fantastic fun in the away end. Friendly stewards and police leaving the ground.
Still sunny outside, met a bloodied Mr Sox, thanks to the aforementioned nutters, at the gates. leisurely walk back to the car park chatting to some very nice Stoke fans.

No traffic back to Brum, and home quicker than it sometimes takes to get home from VP on the buses.

Mr Plastic Away Fan loved it. A massive thank you to Mr Sox and Leeg. Much appreciated and i'm in your debt.

Was he sitting next to Legion then?

[Havencheese]

I did my usual, in that on 70 i buggered off from all communication and we won again. It is working well!


From what I saw, I thought Shawcross and Huth, perhaps inevitably, shackled the big man well until, well, boom.

Gabby ran his arse off first half.

Bowery did well and held up the ball, brought the midfield into play and helped us get control of the ball.

Bennett had a good game - said it on the thread,we have to get him more involved in whipping the ball in, he has a wand of a left foot that one day will make him a top player.

Weimann was quiet but worked his arse off.

Westwood and Delph are a really good partnership. Milner with them just in front would be the bomb.

I hope those banging on that the likes of Westwood, Lowton, Bennett, Vlaar etc are not up to it will ease off on them. They could be excellent next season with a bit of confidence if we can survive this. Lambert is a good manager in my opinion, streets better than TSM last season and the O'Neill that left us. We need to stick with this group, they are showing they have guts too. Stay up and use a bit of the new TV cash, free up more wages from those who offer nothing and trust Lambert to go again.

I've always said that, as long as we stay up, stick with him. If we go down who else would you go to? Regardless it ain't gonna happen, he's flawed but I like what he's shaping out of some supposed no name signings, the rest can get better. Give it time for fruition as long as we stay up.

[WALTERS WARRIORS]

Stated pre match we would win 0-2 but very happy with 1-3. great result and we will be up for Fulham game with a rocking Villa Park ........

[Lastfootstamper]

PWS, our new lucky charm.

Somebody get this man tickets for norwich, manyoo and wigwam!!

[eastie]

Two goals in the final three minutes handed Aston Villa's survival bid a welcome boost as they overcame Stoke City 3-1 at the Britannia Stadium to clamber out of the drop zone.

Gabriel Agbonlahor saw his first-half effort cancelled out by Michael Kightly, but a spectacular volley from Matthew Lowton and a stoppage-time strike from Christian Benteke enabled Villa to see off a Stoke side who continue to struggle in 2013 and find themselves just four points clear of the Premier League trapdoor.

Villa bossed the early exchanges, but it could have been different had the hosts been awarded the penalty they wanted after barely two minutes when Jonathan Walters smashed the ball into Nathan Baker's arm from close range.

Referee Mark Clattenburg deemed the contact unintentional, much to Potters boss Tony Pulis' obvious disgust on the sidelines. Whether awarding a spot-kick or not might have been harsh on Baker, it was still a let-off for the defender, whose shaky start continued as Kenwyne Jones muscled past only to blaze over.

Stoke looked up for the fight at that point but their optimism was pierced after just nine minutes as Lowton and Jordan Bowery combined from a throw-in to cut through the home defence. Lowton reached the byline all too easily and pulled back for Agbonlahor in front of goal and the striker rolled in at the second attempt after his initial effort was blocked.

The goal came against the run of play but it completely changed the game's momentum and Stoke had an escape when Robert Huth backed off and Bowery fired into the side-netting.

The anxiety among the home fans was obvious and alarm bells were ringing again when Andreas Weimann broke clear and struck the post with a low shot Begovic may have brushed with his fingertips.

Stoke managed to toughen up before the break but created no meaningful opportunities and were booed off by a concerned crowd at half-time.

A badly misplaced pass by Marc Wilson brought more jeers, but it soon became apparent the Republic of Ireland international was injured and he hobbled off. Pulis took the opportunity to strengthen his attack but ignored the claims of former England pair Michael Owen and Peter Crouch on the bench and sent on Cameron Jerome.

That brought a change of shape but it was some time before it started to yield greater end product as Villa continued to dominate play in an increasingly scrappy contest.

Stoke were, however, soon to enjoy their best spell of the game and, with confidence growing, Walters raced away down the left. He fed inside to Charlie Adam, who had been on the field just a matter of minutes, and he in turn teed up half-time substitute Kightly to stab home.

The equaliser transformed the atmosphere and the crowd finally began to find their voice.

But it was not to last as Lowton dramatically swung the game back in Villa's favour with a superb volley three minutes from time. The defender chested down an attempted clearance from a corner outside the box and fired back into the top corner.

Home hopes were deflated and, as the game ran towards injury time, Benteke raced through and calmly stroked the ball past Begovic for the third.

[ktvillan]

Have to admit I thought it was curtains when they equalised, so fair play for bouncing back.  They've been a bit of a bogey team for us so about time we got a win off them.  Not Gabby's biggest fan but he does tend to have a little burst of goals each season over just a few games, and fortunately they've come at a good time this season (shame about the missed sitter last week though). 

We've given ourselves a reasonable chance of staying up from this position even if some of the other teams have games in hand.  Hopefully Chelsea and QPR can help us out tomorrow.

[eastie]

Paul Lambert on vital win over Stoke.



Paul Lambert hailed Matt Lowton's stunning, decisive strike, insisting: "You won't see a better goal in Europe this weekend."

Villa were 1-0 up early on through Gabby Agbonlahor but, after dominating for long spells, Stoke conjured up a late second-half equaliser.

But up stepped Lowton with a wondergoal which flew past the otherwise impressive Asmir Begovic and gave the claret and blues the impetus to go on and claim the victory,

Christian Benteke completing the scoring late on.

Lambert was in good spirits after the 3-1 victory because of the tonic of three points.

But he was also mightily proud of the way his side came roaring back after being conceding in the closing minutes of the contest.

He said: "I thought it was deserved. I thought we were outstanding right from the off. We were terrific.

"We got the goal - well deserved - and the keeper has kept them in it in the first half.

"I thought we defended really strongly against a good side at set-pieces. Football-wise, I thought we were excellent.

"We looked terrific in certain parts of the game, the majority of the game I thought we were outstanding.

"We scored three good goals, especially the strike from Matty Lowton.

"I don't think you will see a better goal in the whole of Europe, let alone Britain. It was a world-class finish.

"He has just come from Sheffield United this season and not missed a minute of the games. That was one unbelievable finish.

"He scored an unbelievable goal against Swansea but that? I thought the chest control and volley was outstanding.

"I was a little bit concerned we weren't more ahead at half-time considering the dominance we had of the ball and the chances we had.

"But that's what can happen if you don't take your chances at this level.

"But every time we went forward we looked a threat.

"We could have been two-up just after the restart when the goalkeeper had made another outstanding save. But the second goal - I don't think you will see a better goal in Europe. The second goal took the wind out of the sails.

"I have real belief in the lads. We had a goal threat. Gabby was outstanding and then there was Weimann and Benteke too as well as Charles and Darren when they came on.

"Christian scored the third. He doesn't miss at the minute.

"I am proud of them, really, really proud of them. I am proud of them because at 1-1 the crowd got going.

"It was right against us but we weathered that and came back strongly. am proud of the way they kept going.

"The crowd was unbelievable today. Everyone is right behind us. We are playing really well at this moment in time."

Lambert admits Villa have the "wind in their sails now" heading into the final six games of the campaign.

He added: "They are playing really well but they have been since the turn of the year without sometimes getting the results.

"There have been games we have been two-up and we've managed to draw them after being pegged back.

"We are playing well and there's a lot of momentum there, a lot of really good footballers and collectively they are doing fantastic."

[john2710]

It's days like today & particularly moments like Lowton's goal which make it all worthwhile. Stunning goal, fantastic result & performance from everyone, Villa fans included.  There should be no negative comments from anyone. We're going in the right direction whilst others are going the opposite way.
 UTV

[Dave]

Slightly better angle.

[Arsey]

Lowton diving in YET AGAIN.  Sorry, he's shit.

What goes on in the match thread, stays in the match thread

Indeed, agree totally. We've all said stupid things in there which have turned out be wrong as I'm sure most of us have done at matches.

I disagree.  Some of the comments made about Lambert before the game and then after the Stoke goal were ridiculous.  Some thought before posting would be advisable.