Stoke City ease past Rochdale to line up FA Cup trip to Blackburn
Rochdale 1 - 4 StokeRhys Bennett 78
Krkic Bojan 4
Stephen Ireland 52
Victor Moses 61
Jonathan Walters 90 +2:58
The closing tie of the fourth round offered no fairy tale bookend to the FA Cup weekend. Instead Rochdale, lying fifth in League One, were beaten soundly by Stoke City who, at least, knew they had been in a game. They now play Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park in the fifth round while Rochdale can concentrate on winning promotion.
After a pre-match soundtrack of James, Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses had this tight ground rocking, – and the mascot, Desmond the Dragon, jigging – Rochdale were stunned within four minutes of the kick-off.
Keith Hill’s team had initially pinned Stoke City back, winning an early corner. Now, though, came a beautiful strike from Bojan Krkic. Jack Butland, one of two Stoke changes alongside Ryan Shawcross, hoofed a clearance downfield and when the ball was headed out it came to the Spaniard, who fired a sweet 20-yard shot past Rochdale’s goalkeeper Josh Lillis for his fifth goal of the season.
Krkic has been one of Stoke’s go-to performers in his first season since being bought for £3m from Barcelona. Operating in the No10 berth he continued to show why, tormenting the Rochdale defence with his quick feet and teasing deliveries from corners.
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The contest was open, though, and the Dale posed a threat whenever they moved forward. Joseph Bennett illustrated how when the right-back made a buccaneering run and sent over a cross that flashed in and out of the danger area before Butland could blink.
Krkic’s evening was to prove eventful and truncated. The 24-year-old decided to get involved when Peter Vincenti left Victor Moses in a heap following a challenge. As Stoke’s manager, Mark Hughes, went ballistic on the touchline and Rochdale refused to put the ball out it eventually came to Vincenti. Now, Krkic went in hard on the Rochdale No7 to enrage the midfielder and after handbags were exchanged the referee Martin Atkinson restored order before showing Stoke’s scorer a yellow card.
Bad was about to follow the good and the ugly for Krkic. Racing on to a ball in Rochdale’s area he went down unchallenged and was replaced in the 32nd minute by Stephen Ireland after appearing to suffer a knee injury. This had the home fans gleefully shouting “cheat” at Krkic as he departed.
Rochdale went close soon afterwards when Matthew Done raced clear but he steered his shot wide. As the break neared Done nearly beat Butland, while earlier Stephen Dawson had a close-range attempt smothered by the goalkeeper. Stoke, despite their lead, had been warned.
After the interval Hughes continued to berate the officials, turning to the fourth, Michael Jones, in disgust after Stoke were denied a corner claim following a speculative 25-yard Marc Wilson shot. Moments later Hughes was much happier when a pass by Moses was turned home expertly by Ireland to stretch his team’s lead.
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Yet despite Stoke’s 2-0 cushion Rochdale continued to take the contest to their Premier League opponents and to aid this effort Hill made two quick substitutions, bringing on Reuben Noble-Lazarus and Calvin Andrew for Vincenti and Done.
But if Hill hoped they would add an extra spark to his side, Moses made any chance of a comeback all but impossible by making it 3-0. The forward turned Rafferty inside and out before bending a peach of a finish beyond Lillis.
This had the Stoke faithful singing “Hughesy, Hughesy give us a wave?” The Welshman obliged, knowing that his side were all but through. Rhys Bennett grabbed a late consolation for Rochdale before Jonathan Walters added a fourth for Stoke in stoppage time.
Guardian
