Stoke City 1 Sunderland 0: STOKE CITY will never win many points for artistic impression with their direct and physical style, but they were well-worth the three that came with this scrappy victory over Sunderland.
That Tony Pullis's side rely so heavy on set-pieces and the long throws of midfielder Rory Delap will always upset the so-called purists, but few Stoke fans are complaining.
This win, their third at home this season, was a triumph for their effort and endeavour and it could have been more emphatic.
Having headed Stoke in front from a Delap special, Ricardo Fuller showed this side can also play a bit of football when they want to, running on to a delightful through ball from the substitute Michael Tonge and crashing a shot against the foot of the post.
Opposition teams know what to expect when they play Stoke, but that does not necessarily make it any easier to deal with.
For all of the work done on a training pitch in preparation, nothing quite compares to actually facing a football team which has so much height and power that it would not look out of place on a basketball court.
So, while Sunderland's defenders will have spent hours talking about Stoke's aerial threat at set-pieces, and from Delap's sling-shot throw-ins, which have the speed and trajectory of a corner kick, they still looked uneasy under the bombardment.
Delap, who moved to the Britannia Stadium from Sunderland two years ago, got an early chance to test his former employers and it almost brought an instant reward when the ball flew over a crowd of players huddled at the near post and fell perfectly for Fuller. He struck but stabbed his shot which was easily blocked on the line.
Where Stoke were vibrant and purposeful, Sunderland were sluggish. After the break Roy Keane decided to fight fire with fire, replacing Dwight Yorke, with frontline targetman Kenwyne Jones. But to little avail.
A Delap missile finally found its target when Fuller leapt above the static Dean Whitehead to break the deadlock.
• Guardian Service
STOKE CITY: Sorensen, Griffin, Abdoulaye Faye, Shawcross, Higginbotham, Soares (Tonge 69), Olofinjana (Amdy Faye 87), Diao, Delap, Sidibe, Fuller (Kitson 90). Subs not used: Simonsen, Pericard, Wilkinson, Sonko. Booked: Abdoulaye Faye, Griffin.
SUNDERLAND: Fulop, Bardsley, Ferdinand, Collins, McCartney, Malbranque (Reid 75), Whitehead, Yorke (Jones 46), Richardson, Diouf, Cisse (Chopra 62). Subs not used: Colgan, Tainio, Nosworthy, Leadbitter. Booked: Malbranque.
Referee: Chris Foy(Merseyside).
