Stoke recovered from an awful start to run Spurs all the way to the final whistle in what ended as a narrow 3-2 victory for the Hosts. It was a positive response from the Potters who came away with no fresh injuries allowing them to now concentrate fully on the biggest game in the club’s recent history down at Wembley on Sunday.

Wizard Of The Dribble... ©football.co.uk

I was worried that our focus would be limited, that players wouldn’t stretch that extra yard or go into those 50/50 challenges through fear of injuring themselves ahead of the Semi Final, but aside from a pretty woeful first 20 minutes we put in decent performance against the wounded Spurs. The big question on people’s lips before kick off was ‘Who will replace Higgy?’ and it seemed my prediction of last week came true as Wilko was drafted back into the side at right back and Wilson continued his tour of defensive positions over at the other side of defence.

It was also a positive sign that both wingers started, mainly because it shows a confidence from Pulis in an attacking setup away from home, but also that the noises of an injury to Pennant weren’t as bad as first feared though if you were anything like me I was praying to everyone’s God when he winced and grabbed his hamstring early on.

The main talking points were as follows;

Begovic – Not the best game from Asmir, his kicking seemed to be poor on the day and he wasn’t as commanding as we know he can be, I’m not sure whether it was simply a bad day at the office, the fact Shawcross was struggling or that the giant Crouch was found time and again in the area. Whatever it was though, Asmir remains my choice for the number 1 spot, apart from in the next game where I’ll happy to see Sorensen come back into the fold as our ‘Cup Keeper’.

Wilkinson – I was nervous for Wilko having seen him targeted by Spurs in season’s past and it proved to be the case again as every time Spurs got possession in the opening stages the ball seemed to get whacked out to Bale to take on the slightly rusty full back. On the whole I think he did ok, he was poor distribution wise but the fact is that Bale has embarrassed a lot more high profile players than Andy Wilkinson this season and the fact he nicked the ball off the Welshman to set up our second goal and that he did a better job on him the second half bodes well for the local lad who I think has done enough to keep his position for the game at Wembley. Wilko will be beaming with pride as he enters a small elite of home grown Potters to play at our national stadium, I hope he has a blinder and doesn’t let the occasion get the better of him.

Flat Footed... ©GettyImages

Shawcross – Ryan had another shaky game to continue his frustratingly inconsistent season, time and again getting caught flat footed for the entirely expected series of diagonal balls aimed at the giant Crouch. Having been beaten twice, both resulting in a Spurs goal, it was Huth who was switched in to mark Crouch who made a much better effort of shackling him in the second half. I just hope Ryan finds his game again and more importantly some consistency as he really looks a shadow of his former self and whether that’s Ramsey or Armband related it’s something he needs to work on to marshal us through to a fourth Premier League campaign.

Delap – Rory didn’t have a great game today and the notion he plays poorly away from the Britannia keeps coming back to haunt him as he struggled to keep pace in the middle against the lively Modric and van der Vaart, that said, much like Wilko, he was up against some of the best in the league so can’t be too disappointed with himself. I just hope that the neutral venue of Wembley doesn’t equate to an ‘Away’ performance from Rory on Sunday and the mass of travelling Stokies make it as close to a home game as possible.

Jones – Man Of The Match - Kenwyne had yet another great game for us and the fact it came away from comfort of the Bearpit gives me much confidence that his recent upturn in form wasn’t a flash in the pan. He capped off an excellent performance with a belter of a goal and was unlucky not to score again as Gomes pulled off a great save to deny him his second of the day. I’d love for KJ to continue this kind of form into next week and get a goal at Wembley, he deserves a bit of glory having played really well for the last five or six weeks and to see him back flip in the Wembley sun in front of more than 30,000 Stokies is the stuff dreams are made of.

Fuller – Ric continues to excite and frustrate in equal measure and for what seems like the fourth game in a row he got involved when he shouldn’t, this time with a Spurs fan which could amount to an FA charge. I’ve written these last few weeks about him being a liability recently, even in his short appearances and today is a perfect example of this. I just hope this selfish act doesn’t starve us of one of our few attacking options from the bench for the Cup game, if it does, there is only one man to blame.

Vis Unita Fortior

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