The Aztexan

After putting Coventry City away 2-1, Stoke City are back in the top spot! But there are still only 3 points separating them from the next four teams.

West Brom & Watford drew 1-1, which is as close to them both losing (as I requested last week) as could be managed. In fact, it was practically a festival of ties: fellow promotion challengers Bristol City (0-0 vs. Wolverhampton) and Hull City (1-1 vs. QPR) joined the party as well. Thanks, guys, and keep up the good work. The result was little movement at the top of the table, save for Stoke jumping up to #1.

P	Team	Pts	Move
1	Stoke City	72
2	West Bromwich Albion	71
3	Bristol City	71
4	Hull City	69	—
5	Watford	69	—
6	Crystal Palace	65	—
7	Ipswich Town	64	—

(Full table)

According to the Telegraph, Stoke manager Tony Pulis used Al Pacino's fire & brimstone locker-room speech from Any Given Sunday to rally the troops before the game:

"We came into the dressing room and there was a big screen set up with speakers and everything," said Liam Lawrence, scorer of Stoke's winner. "We were like, 'What's going on?' They showed us Al Pacino's team talk from Any Given Sunday [the American Football film] and that really got us going.

"Any added motivation is good at this stage. It's 40-odd games in and you've still got to play every game as though it's your first. It's just about winning now."

(Note: includes language not suitable for work ;-)


I hope the Potters can keep on fighting for every inch over their next 2 games, starting Saturday when #3 Bristol City come to Britannia Stadium.

Labels: Stoke City