Pulis relief after Potters edge Blues

10 November 2010 07:19
Stoke boss Tony Pulis thought his team had thrown away their chance of victory against Birmingham before Dean Whitehead's late winner.[LNB] The Potters, who had lost their last four Premier League fixtures going into the game, took a deserved first-half lead through Robert Huth and looked home and dry when Ricardo Fuller's delightful effort made it 2-0 in the 71st minute.[LNB]But the Blues, as they had on Saturday against West Ham, swiftly erased the two-goal deficit thanks to substitute Keith Fahey and Cameron Jerome to set up a tense finale.[LNB]In the end, though, it was the hosts who emerged triumphant 3-2 as Whitehead pounced five minutes from time to secure a vital three points - much to the relief of Pulis.[LNB]Asked if he thought his hopes of a win were gone when Birmingham equalised, the manager said: "Yes - when they got the second goal it was very deflating.[LNB]"But I thought in the first half, it was as good as we have played, getting the ball wide nice and early, and we caused them lots of problems.[LNB]"The big disappointment was that we weren't coming in at half-time more than one goal up.[LNB]"We started the second half well and then had a mad 15 minutes where, after Ricardo's fantastic goal, they pressed on and had nothing to lose.[LNB]"After the previous 70 minutes, we started to take a step back, and fair play to Birmingham, they kept going and they nearly nicked something.[LNB]"But we've got a great group of players who never give up and they are resilient.[LNB]"What we needed was a win, which we have got and it has lifted us a little bit."[LNB]It was suggested that Whitehead may have handled the ball in the build-up to his goal, but Pulis - who prior to the game had railed against match officials and suggested a radical overhaul of the system by which they are assessed - claimed not to have seen the incident, adding: "I thought (referee) Mark Clattenburg was very good tonight - and if he's missed that, then I'm very pleased!"[LNB]Birmingham manager Alex McLeish was unsure whether any infringement had been committed by Whitehead and was more concerned about the way his team failed to prevent the goal.[LNB]"It would have been a great point and I thought the way we were going at the time (of the equaliser), the momentum was with us," McLeish said.[LNB]"We were right on top at two each, and their third goal was a dog's breakfast of a goal. It was shocking.[LNB]"We have lost some uncharacteristic goals this season. The defenders have not been poor individually - we have still defended well and we saw Scott Dann and Roger Johnson battling tonight against two big centre-forwards, a good 50-50 battle.[LNB]"But to lose the goal the way we did was soft to say the least.[LNB]"I have seen the goal about 10 times and it is difficult to say whether there was a handball.[LNB]"But Kenwyne Jones got a touch, then Fuller got a touch.[LNB]"It was probably the only time our centre-halves lost out on a ball consecutively in the whole game and then, what happened next was pretty heartbreaking for the Birmingham fans and for the team."

Source: Team_Talk