Stoke V Sunderland match report

A Joe Allen double helped Stoke to their first win of the season against Sunderland.

Stoke finally put to bed their winless streak against fellow strugglers Sunderland, thanks to Joe Allen who continued his scoring streak from international duty as he doubled his tally for the season in an afternoon. There was worry though as Allen limped off injured towards the end of the game, but Hughes was quick to reassure fans “he has a high workload and sometimes that can affect his muscles but it’s nothing to be concerned about”.

Hughes was also quick to praise the performance of his players, he added “the performance has been coming, stemming from Hull in the cup. They were excellent from start to finish, hopefully now the noise around us can dissipate a bit”. Stoke really looked a changed team as they were defensively sounds and were able to keep the pressure on Sunderland, throughout and limited the service to Defoe.

The manager, was also impressed with how his players are performing really well after international duty especially Shaqiri and Arnautovic who he said look sharp and focused.

Stoke started brightly as they took the lead on the 7^th minute, as Shaqiri picked up on a poor clearance and fed Arnautovic who dinked in a cross for a simple header, for Allen to put away. Sunderland tried to get back into the game but Defoe could only get a single chance but it was easily blocked by Shawcross.

Just before the break Stoke and Allen added a second, when a corner was poorly cleared to Allen in on the edge of the box and his low drive wrong footed, Pickford in net. There was also a big injury concern for Patrick Van Aanholt who came off with a confirmed abductor injury, with an unconfirmed return date.

Stoke could have made it worse for Sunderland when Arnautovic put the ball in the back off the net when Adam had a shot which cannoned off of Arnautovic into the net but it was ruled out for offside.

Moyes remained upbeat after the defeat saying that if they manged to keep the score 1-0 at half-time then they would have had a chance to get something from the game as he felt that they played better than the score line suggested.

Moyes feels that it’s only a matter of time before they get the win they need. He stated that “we need a bit of momentum to get us going. The supporters never gave up on us today, that’s the lift the players should be using”.

Stoke can now kick on with this first win of the season and can now maybe push up the table and string some positive results together. On the other hand, Sunderland need to get that first win for the players to get their confidence up and fight in a relegation battle.