by Martin Spinks
martin.spinks@thesentinel.co.uk

ANDY Wilkinson left the Stamford Bridge pitch almost hoarse after a typically tough workout at the heart of Stoke’s under-fire defence.

“I’ve lost my voice from all the shouting,” he grimaced afterwards. “They are class and they just out-number you.

“It seemed as though I was marking two or three players all game and that’s why I was having to shout so much.

“They are class players, but they also battle and play hard.

“It was never going to be easy for us because they’re a team of winners.”

Wilkinson conceded that Stoke’s best hopes of a shock may have come and gone early in the afternoon when a Dean Whitehead shot was cleared off the line with the game still goalless.

“Yeah, that was definitely our biggest chance,” he reflected. “Who knows, it might have been a different game if that one had gone in.

“But either way, the lads gave it everything and I don’t think the gaffer could have asked any more of us.”

He confessed to being disappointed by both goals – the second of which brushed off his shoulder en route to beating Thomas Sorensen.

“The first one was a deflection and the second one came off a set piece, which we thrive on not conceding from. The second one also caught me on the way in, but I’m not claiming it – John Terry can have it.”

Wilkinson is adamant Stoke’s day will eventually come in the FA Cup – even if it is after he has eventually retired.

“It’s been a great cup run, but unfortunately the dream of Wembley has died for another year,” he lamented.

“We’re obviously disappointed, but we are definitely getting closer as a team.

“It’s been our best run for 38 years, so I don’t see why we won’t get there one day soon.”

It will not be another 38 years before they get this far, surely?