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

THIS time, perhaps, the Stoke faithful will be jumping for joy at Tuncay’s failure to step off the bench earlier than he eventually did.

His absence this season has caused many a stir among City supporters, while his comings and goings at Hull last time out triggered plenty of fury among those struggling to see the necessity of his premature substitution that day.

But yesterday, surely, they were happy to see him detained a little longer on the bench after he was stripped and ready to appear – only to be pulled back from the brink when Ricardo Fuller, the player he was about to replace, prolonged his own involvement for a little longer by gleefully cracking home Stoke’s unlikely 74th-minute winner.

Fuller’s first league strike of the season not only broke his duck, but also broke the tension enveloping a troubled Britannia Stadium for much of yesterday’s unconvincing display.

Stoke were never at their best – in fact, they were often at their worst – but were encouraged throughout by bottom-of-the-table Portsmouth’s failure to turn tidy possession into dangerous opportunities.

And eventually it was a shaft of quality, amid the glare of mediocrity, which ultimately decided a contest which neutral TV viewers would have felt inclined to award to the struggling visitors – and which might have been theirs anyway had they not squandered an early penalty.

Fuller’s breakthrough goal will hopefully provide the long-term spark he and his co-conspirators require if they are to provide the goal threat missing from much of their recent efforts.

That said, how can you level too much criticism at a team which, while rarely near its best since that landmark win at Tottenham last month, still hovers encouragingly in ninth place and within touching distance of much grander Premier League reputations?

With poor conclusions to their last two games against Wolves (a 2-2 draw) and Hull (a 2-1 defeat) still horribly fresh in the memory, Stoke could hardly have made a worse start yesterday when Rory Delap’s high and reckless boot caught Aruna Dindane in the chops and left the linesman flagging for an eighth-minute penalty.

But Thomas Sorensen, fresh from that late and costly error at Hull last time out, spared Delap’s considerable blushes by dropping to his left to comfortably collect Kevin-Prince Boateng’s far from regal penalty.

Indeed, Sorensen was tested almost as much by Tal Ben Haim’s long-ranger six minutes later after stooping and gripping tight to ensure there was no spillage in front of the Stoke goal.

Pompey, far from disheartened by Boateng’s poor penalty, then saw Jamie O’Hara drill a 25-yard free-kick comfortably over as the visitors carried the greater conviction during the first quarter.

Stoke’s best efforts in the final third were petering out in front of a frustrated Boothen End, meanwhile, as Ricardo Fuller’s control and shot over the bar was all City could produce by way of any threat on goal in the opening half-hour.

Uncertainty between Sorensen and Ryan Shawcross was symptomatic of Stoke’s ailing self belief, while a stray pass in midfield aborted one of the home side’s more promising breaks.

Not even Matthew Etherington, City’s man-of-the-moment in recent weeks, could lift the home crowd’s spirits when a half-cleared throw left him volleying an awkward chance into the Boothen End.

And Portsmouth goalkeeper Jamie Ashdown, an 11th-hour replacement after David James cried off with calf trouble just before kick-off, was little troubled by James Beattie’s dipping free-kick from distance.

Salif Diao’s overhit pass to a furious Beattie was greeted by chants of “Whelan, Whelan” from the home crowd as an underwhelming first period drew mercifully towards its close.

Kanu, requiring little more than a gust of wind to hit the deck, won an early second-half free-kick from which Portsmouth were able to exert concerted pressure against their uncertain hosts.

The moment of the match thus far arrived in front of the Stoke goal, predictably enough, after Sorensen dived left to fend off a vicious, curling effort from the influential O’Hara from outside the penalty area.

Both Shawcross and Robert Huth were wide with headers from set-pieces at the other end, while Fuller miscued just yards from goal via another Delap throw.

But what really brought the home crowd back to life was the early second-half introductions of Liam Lawrence and Mama Sidibe for Diao and Beattie.

The opening goal should have arrived in the 64th minute when Dindane sneaked the wrong side of Shawcross to latch on to Michael Brown’s chipped pass, but his volley on the turn lacked the precision to trouble the momentarily-exposed Sorensen.

The blustery conditions were doing nothing to improve the quality of a contest doing little, presumably, to dissuade TV viewers from seeking out some tired old western instead.

Boateng’s burst of pace through the middle was a rare sight from either side, but his wayward shot on the run was not.

The moment the occasion had been crying out for eventually arrived in the 74th minute when Etherington, almost inevitably, created the opening by playing a one-two before supplying Fuller.

And then the enigmatic Jamaican, not exactly enjoying his best game to date, turned on the style impressively by lining up a right-foot effort from the edge of the area that left Ashdown helpless as the ball nestled low into his left-hand corner.

Stoke might even have extended their lead on the break after surviving a mini little scramble in front of their own netgoal, but Sidibe skewed horribly across the face of goal after fine approach play by Lawrence and the revitalised Fuller.

Fuller was beginning to revel in the greater space Pompey were having to risk at the back, but looked weary enough to make way for Tuncay eight minutes from the end of normal time.

The house very nearly came down on 86 minutes when Andy Wilkinson, armed with ridiculous amounts of courage and ambition, launched into a goalward run that left three defenders trailing in his wake before his rising cross shot only just cleared the angle of bar and post.

Sorensen’s positioning and handling remained true to the end as he safely grappled with a potentially sticky effort low down after a short free-kick was rolled sideways for Younes Kaboul to fire goalwards with Pompey’s last chance.