Stoke City reserves 0
Birmingham City reserves 0

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

AXED defensive duo Andy Wilkinson and Danny Higginbotham returned to earth with a bump as Stoke City’s reserves drew 0-0 with Birmingham at Nantwich Town last night.

The pair helped Stoke to their thrilling 4-3 win over Blackpool in the Carling Cup at the Britannia last week, but continued the fight to win back their places in the humbler surroundings of the Weaver Stadium.

Left back Andy Griffin, Stoke’s match-winner against the Tangerines, also featured while Salif Diao returned in midfield having missed the first six weeks of the season with a calf injury.

Diao came through 90 minutes unscathed, playing as a holding midfielder behind Diego Arismendi, Amdy Faye and Danny Pugh as Stoke had the better of the game without finding a finish.

Arismendi supplemented a hard-working game with a decent range of passing to show he had recovered from the thigh strain which forced him off at half-time against Blackpool.

But Stoke weren’t helped by their striker injury list, which meant midfielders Michael Tonge and Tom Soares were pressed into service up front.

Having placed his entire squad on the transfer list on Saturday, Port Vale manager Micky Adams stepped up his search for replacements as he took a seat in the main stand among a host of scouts.

Birmingham fielded a largely youthful side, bolstered by the experience of former Aston Villa defender Liam Ridgewell and ex-Derby and Everton midfielder Lee Carsley.

But Stoke had nothing to show for their first-half possession as they struggled to put Blues keeper Colin Doyle under serious pressure.

Danny Pugh fired too close to the keeper from the edge of the area on eight minutes before he made amends with a clever through ball to release Tom Soares. But Ridgewell did well to recover and put Soares under pressure, forcing the makeshift striker to drill a 16-yard effort straight at Doyle.

Stoke created the best chance of the half on 26 minutes, when Wilkinson cut inside to the edge of the area before sliding a pass through to Arismendi. The Uruguayan timed his run to perfection, but snatched at his shot under pressure, sending it soaring over the low fence behind Doyle’s goal and out of the stadium.

He came closer two minutes before the break after Soares hung up a cross at the back post. Arismendi out-jumped his marker, but couldn’t get enough power on the header to seriously test Doyle.

Birmingham’s James O’Shea curled an 18-yard strike narrowly wide three minutes after the break, but Michael Tonge went close for City on 55 minutes when he bent a right-footed effort just past the far post from 16 yards.

Soares couldn’t quite wrap his foot around Griffin’s cross to the back post on 64 minutes, and had no more luck on 73 when he screwed his shot towards the corner flag from 20 yards after a surging run from the half-way line.

Substitute Akwasi Asante fired a 25-yard effort too close to Steve Simonsen in a rare Birmingham attack, but City sub Louis Moult fired three yards wide after running on to Soares’s through ball.

Stoke came desperately close on 85 minutes after Griffin ended a barnstorming run by slipping the ball across the edge of the area. Danny Pugh was first to the ball but fired inches over.

Tonge’s 89th-minute curler was plucked from under the bar by Doyle, before Birmingham’s Belgian under-18 international Asante fired into the side netting from 20 yards for the Blues.

Stoke almost snatched the points in injury time when Wilkinson soared above his marker to reach Higginbotham’s cross beyond the back post. But his header cleared the bar by a yard.

STOKE: Simonsen, Wilkinson, Cort, Higginbotham, Griffin, Diao, Am Faye (Moult, 72), Arismendi, Pugh, Tonge, Soares
Subs: Lund, Parton, Wedderburn.

BIRMINGHAM: Doyle, Preston, L Rowe, McPike (Joyce, 90), J Rowe, Ridgewell, O'Shea (Redmond, 87), Carsley, Jervis, Sammons, Hronec (Asante, 70)
Subs: Dunphy, Butland.

STOKE’s next reserve game is away at Fulham on Tuesday, October 6. The next home game, also at Nantwich, is against Aston Villa on Monday, October 19 (7pm).