Simonsen pick-me-up spot on for Potters

Cardiff City 0 Stoke City 1

IT takes something special – a visit from the Queen or an RAF fly-past perhaps – for Steve Simonsen to willingly return to the pitch for a post-match warm down.

Not exactly the first player to volunteer for extra running and, on his own admission, the first to moan when he is subjected to the same routines as the rest.

But his trot around the pitch must have felt like a glorious lap of honour as he and his colleagues soaked up deserved acclaim from Stoke fans locked in the ground at the end of Saturday’s heroics.

Heroics? A slight exaggeration, perhaps, but let’s not forget the doom and gloom with which most of us travelled west.

And for Simonsen and new boy Ryan Shawcross, especially, it was indeed an heroic start to what still threatens to be a tough old season.

One fantastic result cannot suddenly wipe clean a summer of intensifying frustration, nor the on-going need to strengthen from the outside. But what a pick-me-up this opening victory has become.

There are few better places to win, given recent history, and what sweet and instant revenge for that costly late equaliser to deny Stoke two crucial play-off points at Ninian Park last April.

Those Stoke fans locked behind at the end feted their victorious players with a joy and passion similar to the celebrations at the end of a certain play-off victory on the same ground five years ago.

The stakes weren’t quite so high this time, of course, but that didn’t dilute the jubilation of seeing Stoke overcome the odds with more than a little help from that man Simonsen.

Two glorious first-half saves – low to his right to prevent a Danny Higginbotham own goal and then high to his right to thwart Joe Ledley – suggested Simonsen was in no mood to relinquish his clean sheet. But another late equaliser was surely beckoning in the 87th minute when Shawcross was penalised for tugging Steven MacLean to leave the Scot standing over the subsequent penalty.

Simonsen, no stranger to penalty saves, pulled yet another out of the bag by diving to his right to save from the spot, but then recovering brilliantly to somehow block the follow-up.

“I’d decided which way I was going to commit myself,” he recalled, “but I half dived past the ball and it popped back out.

“I got up and threw my hands out to save it again.

“I thought it was a lucky penalty to give, so justice was done in the end. It laid a few ghosts from last season when we conceded late on.

“When the clock was ticking down, I was hoping history wasn’t going to repeat itself, but it ended up a good day – a great start.”

And saving Private Ryan was the added bonus after the 19-year-old, making his debut at centre-half after signing on loan from Old Trafford, had earlier fired Stoke into a first-half lead.

“Ryan had a dream debut, a fantastic day,” added Simonsen.

“He’s a very promising lad and I can’t see him staying here for a very long time. He’s come from Man United very highly rated and, at this rate, he’ll be very close to their first team.”

The big lad – looking every inch his six foot, four inches – looked forgiveably exhausted at the end of what was only his third senior game in this country and which was preceded by just one training session with his new colleagues.

He will have greater tests in the air than Cardiff, and he was turned once or twice by some of the home side’s slicker movers, but he emerged with every reason to bask in the temporary glory of his storybook start to life with Stoke.

His moment of glory arrived in the 27th minute when a right-wing corner was flicked on to leave him hooking first-time into the goalkeeper’s right-hand corner with all the style of a seasoned goalscorer.

With the Stoke fans still chanting his name in the background, he gasped: “What a game. First it was just great making my debut, but to score as well. It was a good goal and I’m hoping for five this season.

“After the goal we were under pressure, but we defended well.

“I thought Danny Higginbotham was different class alongside me. Him on one side and Stephen Wright on the other really helped me through.

“He had hold of my shirt on the penalty, but Simmo saved anyway and I just went up and hugged him to say a big thank you.”

Simonsen and Shawcross were merely the headline-makers, however, from a performance possessing sufficient discipline and commitment to suggest the dressing-room remains pretty solid and united at this potentially tricky juncture.

Higginbotham’s off-field contract discussions remain more than just a potential distraction, for instance, and a cause of particular concern given his captaincy and stature among his peers.

But nothing in his performance, nor anyone else’s for that matter, suggested any lingering discontent is about to undermine their contribution on the field just yet.

Stoke’s defending – the most visible and admirable element in Saturday’s victory – was performed with such dutiful zeal as to deserve the bonus of that Simonsen double save at the death.

Cardiff, despite plenty of neat and incisive approach play, clearly lacked the bite that a fit Robbie Fowler might have provided to reward a sell-out home crowd with something far greater than defeat to one of their fiercest enemies.

A great start for Stoke, but only a start.

How they shaped up:

SIMONSEN: Simply outstanding. Two great first-half saves, excellent decision-making and the coup-de-grace with that late penalty save 9

WRIGHT: Understandably ring-rusty in parts, but experience and resilience saw him through 8

DICKINSON: Lack of experience rarely showed as he kept his head superbly against Sinclair’s considerable experience 8

SHAWCROSS: Old head on young shoulders for the most part – and deserved all the plaudits going 8

HIGGINBOTHAM: Normal service resumed, despite off-field issues over contract 8

CRESSWELL: Played out wide and asked to fulfil unglamorous role – mission accomplished 8

MATTEO: His calm head and physical solidity a constant feature in central midfield 8

DELAP: Astonishing stamina given his fitness record and always chose the right options 8

LAWRENCE: Always showed for the ball and willing accomplice with his full-back in defensive third 8

FULLER: Few chances to shine, but mucked in with the rest before cramp finished him off 8

SIDIBE: Unlucky not to finish it with late shot (superbly saved) to cap a typically earnest display 8

SUBSTITUTES

EUSTACE (for Fuller, 80): Steadied the ship in central midfield in the closing stages.

Not used: 25 Hoult, 28 Wilkinson, 8 Parkin, 26 Pulis.

CARDIFF CITY

1 Turnbull, 2 McNaughton, 3 Capaldi, 6 Loovens, 12 Johnson, 18 Sinclair, 4 Rae, 10 McPhail, 16 Ledley, 9 MacLean, 14 Feeney.

Substitutes: 11 Parry (for Feeney, 62), 7 Whittingham (for MacPhail, 71).

Not used: 13 Oakes, 5 Purse, 44 Gunter.