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

ACCORDING to one national newspaper, Stoke fans should be the happiest of all in the Premier League right now.

That will come as news to those recently registering their displeasure at Stoke’s style, selections and choice of kit over the past fortnight or so.

The newspaper’s conclusion, published on the morning of this match, was not unreasonably based on its measure of every club’s pre-season expectations against their present-day league position.

So we find Stoke top, Burnley second and Chelsea third in their alternative league, while Liverpool are propping up the whole lot at the other end of their table.

The cold facts would appear to bear out such conclusions as Stoke have reached the 20-point mark – half-way towards everyone’s notional safety figure of 40 – some three games quicker than they did last season.

League positions alone never tell the entire story, of course, but there are those who think they tell roughly 99.9 per cent of the story when your club is no more than four months into its second season in the top flight.

And while no-one is expecting to see fans gambolling through the streets of Hanley and kissing every fair maiden they pass, there is surely enough satisfaction to be had from the league table to dilute the disappointment of some admittedly patchy displays in recent weeks.

Saturday’s stalemate at Blackburn is further cause for quiet satisfaction as any half-decent campaign must inevitably accommodate such hard-won points at far from friendly destinations.

Blackburn had won five and drawn one of their previous six games on a ground where grander reputations than Stoke’s will no doubt suffer this season.

And this, to be fair to both sides, was a game warranting a much more attractive scoreline – and one it would have enjoyed had Stoke, especially, not been so wasteful within sight of goal.

But that was one of the few criticisms to level at a team mixing decent football with sound defence for the majority of a pretty even and far from turgid offering.

If only Stoke’s best first-half chances had fallen to someone other than Dean Whitehead. While the rest of his game was somewhere near its best – and arguably at its best yet in a Stoke shirt – his finishing belonged to a player unaccustomed to catching sight of the opposition goalkeeper at any time between the pre-match and post-match handshakes.

A weak shot at Paul Robinson after Mama Sidibe had declined the chance himself was a mere taster to what followed in the 19th minute when, having sneaked clean through, he rather telegraphed his side-footed effort to his right and the former England keeper read his intentions perfectly.

Robinson was in far less control of events in the 39th minute, however, when another smooth Stoke break climaxed with Liam Lawrence powering one against the unaware but well-positioned keeper.

The bug was catching in the second half as Andy Wilkinson, for a second successive week, broke goalwards after taking a return pass from Whitehead before striking the side-netting and again missing that first-ever Stoke goal.

A poor miss, perhaps, but that should not blemish his overall record during this 90 minutes when, with more pressure on his shoulders than usual after effectively being preferred to Abdoulaye Faye, he produced another typically high standard inside his own third.

Ricardo Fuller was the architect of two further attempts to break the deadlock in the second period, when his panther-like incursions from the right channel teed up both Whitehead and James Beattie.

Whitehead could be forgiven for miscuing on the stretch – although a complete miss might have left Matthew Etherington mopping up behind him – but Beattie will have been chasing his cat around the house all weekend after scooping over from close range in the 75th minute.

It looked a horror show on first viewing, particularly for such a normally accomplished finisher, but the sight of one of Blackburn’s seven-foot players sliding in front of him may have persuaded him to lift rather than blast his effort.

Stoke’s defence of their own goal remained sound and sturdy for the most part after Ryan Shawcross and Robert Huth were allowed to prolong their central defensive partnership following the surprise (some might say courageous) decision to invite the club captain to reside on the bench.

Only once in the first half did Rovers seriously breach those defences when a scooped pass left Franco di Santo sneaking clear for a shot superbly charged down by Thomas Sorensen’s alert reaction to the sudden danger.

Blackburn stepped up their game sufficiently to cause rather more flutters 10 minutes into the second half, however, as Sorensen touched Ryan Nelsen’s overhead kick around the same left-hand post that Steven N’Zonzi was to rattle with a firm shot from a half-cleared corner a minute later.

Brett Emerton later threatened with a firm drive that went narrowly wide and a low cross well pouched by Sorensen, while Christopher Samba wasted a 92nd-minute chance to pinch two extra points when heading wide from another ball flung into the City area.

One of your better 0-0 draws, then, and certainly not one to deepen the gloom of those still troubled by the manager’s tactics and selection.

The players seem persuaded by his tendency to chop and change from one opposition to the next and, you have to say, results are tending to bear him out too.

All of which leaves Stoke half-way up the Premier League table ... or is it half-way down?