by Michael Baggaley
michael.baggaley@thesentinel.co.uk

FORTY five minutes to defend against a £60m forward line, and just 10 men to do it.

Some managers would have been out of their depth, but we just know Tony Pulis approached his half-time team talk with the wild-eyed relish of Robert Shaw’s shark hunter setting out to capture Jaws.

All right, so Shaw’s Quint came to something of a sticky end, but that was never going to happen to Pulis. He was born to manage in situations like this and was up against foe who, for all their reputation, proved to be as savage as a bag of scampi.

Pulis’s supposed lack of adventure has upset a few Stoke fans over the years, but the Boothen End wouldn’t have wanted any other manager drilling the disciplines of hard work, organisation and concentration into the 10 men in the home dressing room at the break.

Manchester City never had a chance. The immaculately tailored Mark Hughes sat in his bench and glowered throughout the second half as he was comprehensively outmanoeuvred by the shell-suited Rommel rumbling back and forth across Stoke’s technical area.

Hughes’s record proves he is an excellent manager. But, in his press conference, could only retreat into the old cliche of it being much harder to play against 10 men than 11.

In this case, you could see his point, but that concept might take some explaining to the club’s Abu Dhabi owners, who have so far lavished £75m on talent to go along with the extra man advantage they had for 52 minutes.

Hughes had better not also mention that Stoke’s starting eleven cost £10m – or a couple of mill less than Wayne Bridge.

Maybe the watching chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, would have felt better to know Stoke have actually spent more than £20m on players since promotion – enough to buy most of Robinho.

The fact £5.5m Dave Kitson and £3m Seyi Olofinjana can only make a place on the bench has inevitably led to some criticism of Pulis. But on this evidence, the Stoke boss has forged a team spirit and togetherness which, as yet, eludes the all-star side from up the A34.

Stoke don’t have Man City’s quality and attacking options. But in a tight game, they needed only a couple of chances to see off a visiting side whose defence looks no more likely to withstand serious examination than one of Frank Gallagher’s benefit claims.

A hundred million here or there could eventually solve Hughes’s problems, but it’s fair to assume lifelong Stoke fan Peter Coates is having more fun than Man City’s billionaire owner Sheikh Mansour.

There were no actual sheikhs in attendance here, so directors’ box glamour, which has been provided by both Sugar Ray Leonard and Diego Maradona this season, was on this occasion left to the flat-capped John Rudge and the admittedly magnificently be-mulleted Gerry Francis. Maybe that was one reason why Stoke decided to tone down the usual showbiz pre-match build up by switching off their PA system.

The final 10 minutes to kick-off is usually accompanied by an Eminem anthem, blasted so loudly through City’s supersonic speakers that it shakes Doulton figures out of their china cabinets halfway up Hartshill Bank. You either love it or you hate it, but a 12.45pm kick-off was a sensible opportunity to experiment without it as even the bracing Britannia air wouldn’t have had chance to chase away some Friday night hangovers.

Early kick-offs are no friend of the big-match atmosphere so, with the air as thick with recycled Marston’s Pedigree as it was with anticipation, it was no surprise the early stages of this contest were played to slightly below the usual noise levels. The Britannia was still louder than most grounds, but the place only reached its usual volcanic volume when Martin Atkinson waved his red card at Rory Delap.

The referee should have stopped play for an earlier foul by Shaun Wright-Phillips, and should also have sent off the England winger for retaliation. But we can’t argue with the dismissal of Delap for booting the ball into his unmentionables from point-blank range.

Atkinson surprisingly took some time to whip out his red card – a delay which can only be put down to the fact he couldn’t quite believe the mild-mannered midfielder had done it.

You could just about imagine such a rush of blood from some of Stoke’s more temperamental
players, but not their steadiest of Eddies. This was like watching Norris Cole running amok in Rita’s Kabin, tarring and feathering himself with the creme eggs and shredded copies of Woman’s Own.

Delap couldn’t believe it either as he trudged ruefully off to contemplate a three-match ban and a job left half done.

His departure appeared to leave Stoke with nothing to play for but set-pieces, and that without their long-throw expert. The visiting fans gleefully chanted ‘where’s your Rory gone’ – clearly assuming that Stoke’s only hope of a result had also departed down the tunnel.

Some waved him on his way with blow-up bananas which may even have been survivors of the famous Boxing Day battle of 1988 when 7,000 Mancs and their inflatables were sent packing by a Stoke side inspired – yes really – by new signing Dave Bamber.

Stoke had only beaten Man City at home once since that victory 21 years ago, but silenced the travelling supporters once more with Matt Etherington’s cross and James Beattie’s gravity-defying leap and header. Forget Bamber, Beattie’s back-post finish was so good that there were reverential references to John Ritchie among the experienced patrons of the Upper John Smith’s Stand at half-time.

Beattie got man of the match, but creator Etherington must have run him close.

Before he signed from West Ham, Stoke’s team had all the width of a Mod’s trouser leg.

Now they have a natural winger who’s set up two goals for Beattie in the last two games and who worked so hard he appeared to have actually shrunk by the time he was subbed to a richly-deserved standing ovation four minutes from time.

The double capture of Beattie and Etherington – for around an initial £5m – looks the best piece of business Pulis has done since he somehow persuaded Southampton to part with Danny Higginbotham and Ricardo Fuller three years ago.

That masterstroke cost Stoke around £750,000, which is what Manchester City were reportedly willing to pay Kaka in a week-and-a-half’s wages.

The AC Milan superstar might have found a way through Pulis’s barricades, but there’s no guarantee because Stoke defended so well that Thomas Sorensen didn’t have to make one meaningful save.

Pulis and his team deserve all the plaudits for a victory which lifts them clear of the drop zone.

Meanwhile, Hughes can only contemplate how much better they will have to be if they are to come back to the Britannia next season. “We’re gonna need a bigger budget” perhaps?