We got the news that Gibbo and Nev didn't make it and in their places went Big Vic and Tim Cahill. It meant a bit of a reshuffle with Vic going on the right and Ossie in the middle with Tim supporting Jelly. We got off to again a very promising start, with Victor prominent in the early incidents. He got passed his man on the inside left position and got a great cross over but nobody was there to get the final touch. Big Vic then had a penalty shout. He got the ball before Shawcross and seemed to be clipped but play was waved on. It looked good to me. Vic's eventful start took a turn for the worse when he had to go off injured. There was nobody near him when he went down. He went off then come back on then went off again. He was replaced by Maggie. Everton were playing all the footy. The only real problem from Stoke was the long throw. Rory Delap can certainly hurl the ball a long way but we were coping with it most of the time with little problems. Ossie and Peanuts were involved in most of our good things and it was Ossie who had a few decent efforts after good set up play by the lads. Jelly had an effort off his knee that just flew over the ball from a Maggie cross. And Peanuts had a shot decent effort that was tipped over the bar. We were well on top and we rewarded with the first goal of the game. It came from an own goal from circus act Peter Crouch. Peanuts hit a short free kick to Hibbo on the right. He steadied himself and threw a beauty over. Tim Cahill got a touch it bounced of someone then it hit Crouch on the way in. A great goal by the tall one. Half Time Stoke 0 Everton 1 Stoke came out with a bit more effort in the second but still couldn't create any chances for themselves. And even though they had most of the possession we still created the best chance. Ossie and Peanuts again were the men causing Stoke all the problems. It was Peanuts who gave Ossie a great chance to extend the lead but the ball flew over the bar. I think Leon must have had about 6 efforts on the night. Stoke threw caution to the wind and sent on three subs. It was Cameron Jerome who got the leveller. He powered past Jags and Johnny got a few lucky bounces. He got his shot away hit Jags and went over Tim into our net. To be fair Stoke probably deserved their goal and they went for the winner. Tim had a few scares but in the main we were pretty comfy. The draw was probably right the result but you feel this was two points dropped. There were some really good performances on the night none better than Tony Hibbert who gets my vote as the Bluekipper Starman Full Time Stoke 1 Everton 1
