The game between these two teams may have been understated, but it could be important for both of them. Whichever team wins finishes the weekend in the top half of the table. John Carver finally got his first win since taking charge of Newcastle after beating Hull City 3-0 and names an unchanged team from that game. Stoke have been on a good run in recent games and look to be a tough team to beat.
The game had a relatively quiet start with both sides trying to push forward and play their way past the opposition. However, each attacking move was cut out early on. It took until the 8th minute when Jonathan Walters chested down the ball outside of the 18 yard box. He had nobody in support so decided to take the shot on himself but saw it go just wide of the post.
Newcastle seemed to take a bit more control in the game after this. Moussa Sissoko was given a lot of space down the left wing and put his cross in towards the far post where Remy Cabella tried to just guide it in with his head but forced to Asmir Begovic to pull off a good save. Minutes later, Newcastle got a throw in that eventually landed to one of their own players, but Ayoze Perez made a run that took him away from goal, so the resulting header was directed far off the target. Sammy Ameobi was also given a chance to recreate the goal he scored at Hull after he turned past Glenn Whelan and took on the shot from outside the box which ended with Begovic only needing to make a simple save.
The first half was end to end but with no telling end ball to find the breakthrough. Newcastle also gave away a lot of cheap free kicks in the wide areas throughout the half and were extremely lucky that nothing came of them.
The half ended with a chance for both teams at either end. First up were Newcastle, Perez played in Cabella, who's first touch was very poor before he managed to get it under control. His shot was fired across the face of goal and ended up going out for a goal kick. Stoke got the final chance of the half when Stephen Ireland put a cross into the box that was met by Mame Biram Diouf's head giving Tim Krul his first save of the game.
The second half began in the same way that the first did. Both teams had chances but none looked like they would be the defining moment in the game. Newcastle did begin pushing forward more and Cabella's ball into the box almost landed at the feet of Perez if he had made a slightly later run.
This was followed by a lot of pressure being built up by Stoke. They began pressing higher up the pitch and Newcastle found it extremely difficult to get out of their own half. Instead of trying to play the ball up the pitch, they tried to play it out of their own box and got dispossessed, but were lucky not to see the ball land in the back of their own net. Newcastle really were creating a lot of their own problems and continued to give away cheap free kicks.
It took until the 74th minute for the breakthrough to finally happen when Gabriel Obertan crossed the ball into the box from the right hand side to Sissoko. It looked like he had wasted the chance but managed to pull it back for Jack Colback to direct off the far post and into the net. Stoke will feel hard done by though, as not even 5 minutes before he should have been booked for his second terrible challenge.
This goal was followed by an onslaught of chances from Stoke. Phil Bardsley saw his speculative effort sail over the cross bar and Ireland hit the back of the net with his curled effort around Krul but was correctly ruled offside. Peter Crouch teed up a perfect shot for Bardsley on the edge of the box but his effort was straight down the middle of the goal and easy for Krul to collect.
It was the substitute who had the final say though. In the final minute, Geoff Cameron crossed the ball very deep into the box where Crouch was waiting in the six yard box. Instead of taking the ball down, he chose to loop his header just under the crossbar and out of Krul's reach. Fabricio Coloccini did try to direct the ball back out again but couldn't get under it, leaving the sides equal at the end of the game just as they had been throughout.
The game had a relatively quiet start with both sides trying to push forward and play their way past the opposition. However, each attacking move was cut out early on. It took until the 8th minute when Jonathan Walters chested down the ball outside of the 18 yard box. He had nobody in support so decided to take the shot on himself but saw it go just wide of the post.
Newcastle seemed to take a bit more control in the game after this. Moussa Sissoko was given a lot of space down the left wing and put his cross in towards the far post where Remy Cabella tried to just guide it in with his head but forced to Asmir Begovic to pull off a good save. Minutes later, Newcastle got a throw in that eventually landed to one of their own players, but Ayoze Perez made a run that took him away from goal, so the resulting header was directed far off the target. Sammy Ameobi was also given a chance to recreate the goal he scored at Hull after he turned past Glenn Whelan and took on the shot from outside the box which ended with Begovic only needing to make a simple save.
The first half was end to end but with no telling end ball to find the breakthrough. Newcastle also gave away a lot of cheap free kicks in the wide areas throughout the half and were extremely lucky that nothing came of them.
The half ended with a chance for both teams at either end. First up were Newcastle, Perez played in Cabella, who's first touch was very poor before he managed to get it under control. His shot was fired across the face of goal and ended up going out for a goal kick. Stoke got the final chance of the half when Stephen Ireland put a cross into the box that was met by Mame Biram Diouf's head giving Tim Krul his first save of the game.
The second half began in the same way that the first did. Both teams had chances but none looked like they would be the defining moment in the game. Newcastle did begin pushing forward more and Cabella's ball into the box almost landed at the feet of Perez if he had made a slightly later run.
This was followed by a lot of pressure being built up by Stoke. They began pressing higher up the pitch and Newcastle found it extremely difficult to get out of their own half. Instead of trying to play the ball up the pitch, they tried to play it out of their own box and got dispossessed, but were lucky not to see the ball land in the back of their own net. Newcastle really were creating a lot of their own problems and continued to give away cheap free kicks.
It took until the 74th minute for the breakthrough to finally happen when Gabriel Obertan crossed the ball into the box from the right hand side to Sissoko. It looked like he had wasted the chance but managed to pull it back for Jack Colback to direct off the far post and into the net. Stoke will feel hard done by though, as not even 5 minutes before he should have been booked for his second terrible challenge.
This goal was followed by an onslaught of chances from Stoke. Phil Bardsley saw his speculative effort sail over the cross bar and Ireland hit the back of the net with his curled effort around Krul but was correctly ruled offside. Peter Crouch teed up a perfect shot for Bardsley on the edge of the box but his effort was straight down the middle of the goal and easy for Krul to collect.
It was the substitute who had the final say though. In the final minute, Geoff Cameron crossed the ball very deep into the box where Crouch was waiting in the six yard box. Instead of taking the ball down, he chose to loop his header just under the crossbar and out of Krul's reach. Fabricio Coloccini did try to direct the ball back out again but couldn't get under it, leaving the sides equal at the end of the game just as they had been throughout.
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