Town secure a place in the next round of the FA Cup with a spectacular comeback.
Stoke: Adam Federici, Mortiz Bauer, Ashley Williams, Tom Ince, Peter Etebo, Josh Tymon, Bruno Martins-Indi, Charlie Adam, Sam Clucas, Peter Crouch, Tyrese Campbell (James McClean, 72).
Subs: Jakob Haugaard, Benik Afobe, James McClean, Saido Berahino, Tom Edwards, Harry Souttar.
Town: Steve Arnold, Ryan Haynes, Mat Sadler, Greg Docherty, Fejiri okenabirhie (Abo Eisa, 88), James Bolton, Alex Gilliead (Lee Angol, 90), Aaron Amadi-Holloway (Omar Beckles, 45), Luke Waterfall, Josh Laurent, Anthony Grant.
Subs: Sam Agius, Josh Emmanuel, Omar Beckles, Lee Angol, Abo Eisa, Ryan Sears, James Rowland.
Referee: Geoff Eltringham
Assistants: S Lewis and J Mainwaring
Fourth official: M Haywood
Attendance: 10, 261 (1656)
The game came to an end with Town staging a great comeback to win 3-2 after going two goals down.
Goals from James Bolton, Fejiri Okenabirhie and Josh Laurent sealed Town a place in the next round.
Team News: Sam Ricketts made one change to the starting line up to face Stoke City in the FA Cup third-round replay fixture. Alex Gilliead replaced the suspended Ollie Norburn after the midfielder picked up two yellow cards in previous FA Cup ties.
First Half:
The Town Tuesday night fixture in Stoke started as the Shrews would have expected. The Potters were happy to hold on to possession and looked to press forward at any given chance – as you would expect from the home side.
The home side looked to have taken the lead just 15 minutes in. The tall and imposing Peter Crouch latched onto the end of Charlie Adams’ delivery and saw the ball bounce from the post onto Steve Arnold’s leg and in – but the eagle-eyed assistant deemed Crouch to be offside and the goal was disallowed.
Aaron Amadi-Holloway was being a handful for the Potters defenders right from the first whistle and came inches away from gifting Town a goal. Ryan Haynes floated in a great ball but Amadi-Holloway was unable to make a connection with the ball.
The Potters had their own attack just a minute later and made Town pay for a defensive mistake. The Potters played the ball in and Mat Sadler was unable to clear the ball and Tyrese Campbell was on hand to snatch the ball and fire underneath Arnold – giving the home side the lead after 20 minutes.
Peter Etebo was given a yellow card in the 34th minute for a late challenge in the Town half on Fejiri Okenabirhie.
The hosts doubled their lead with just 10 minutes left in the half through Campbell’s second successful effort of the night. Luke Waterfall failed to clear the ball effectively and Campbell was on hand to volley the ball into the right-hand corner of the goal.
The half came to an end with the hosts securing a deserved two-goal advantage over Sam Ricketts’ men.
Second Half:
Town had to wait until the 54th minute for a real chance at the Potters goal. Josh Laurent played a nice through ball towards Okenabirhie, but the striker was unable to find the net from a tight angle.
Ashley Williams was booked in the 63rd minute for a blatant block on Alex Gilliead as the winger was storming towards goal.
As the half progressed past the 60-minute mark, the hosts were looking more and more comfortably on the ball and were starting to dominate the possession – to the frustration of Town.
With just 20 minutes to go, James Bolton managed to half the home sides lead with a spectacular effort. The defender picked up the ball just inside the box and riffled an effort into the top left corner – giving Adam Federici no chance.
Town were awarded a penalty in the 77th minute after Laurent was tripped over as he ran into the box. Okenabirhie stepped up to take the penalty and smashed home the ball to bring Town back onto level terms.
Laurent was given a yellow card for a challenge on Potters number 11 James McClean.
Town managed to take the lead after a great counter-attack from Sam Ricketts’ men. Greg Docherty stormed into the box and sent a driven cross towards Laurent and the midfielder buried the effort from two yards out - making the score 3-2.
The game came to an end with Town staging a great comeback to win the game 3-2.