Stoke manager Tony Pulis celebrated his 300th game in charge of the club in some style, guiding his side to their biggest ever Premier League win, by three goals to nil against Blackburn at the Britannia Stadium yesterday afternoon. Danny Higginbotham volleyed the Potters ahead early on, before Mamady Sidibe doubled the lead and his tally for the season on the stroke of half time. Blackburn’s Christoper Samba then saw red on the hour after picking up a second yellow card, while the Stoke players, clearly enjoying what was arguably their best performance since winning promotion back to the top flight, hit three for the fourth time in the last six matches, with Matthew Etherington sending home his fifth of the season.

There was speculation this week as to whether Pulis’s only signing of the January transfer window, goalkeeper Asmir Begović, who joined Stoke from Portsmouth for £3.25 million, would be allowed to make an immediate debut. As it was, regular number one Thomas Sorensen started in goal for the Potters, but after a slightly shaky showing from the Dane, it seems that a battle for the starting place between the posts is about to commence.

Stoke captain Abdoulaye Faye was ruled out of the game after picking up a back injury in Monday night’s draw at Sunderland, which meant that passionate, home-grown right back Andy Wilkinson was named in the starting eleven, allowing German international Robert Huth to move across into his favoured central defensive position alongside Ryan Shawcross with Higginbotham on the left side of the back four. Liam Lawrence and Rory Delap were preferred to Glenn Whelan and Salif Diao in the Stoke midfield, while two of the club’s on-form players, Dean Whitehead and Etherington, completed the central quartet. Ricardo Fuller, who scored twice in the last home game, an FA Cup win over Arsenal, was given the nod to start the game ahead of Tuncay, who dropped to the bench, with Sidibe continuing his run of starting matches.

Meanwhile, there was a truly cosmopolitan look to Sam Allardyce’s Blackburn side, with goalkeeper Paul Robinson the only English player on the teamsheet for Rovers. There were three Frenchmen, Gael Givet, Steven N’Zonzi and Pascal Chimbonda in the team, as well as a Croat, Nikola Kaliniić, a Congolese, Samba, an Australian, Ryan Nelsen, an Australian, Brett Emerton, an Argentine, Franco di Santo, a Norwegian, Morten Gamst Pedersen, and a Swede, Martin Olsson.

It took Stoke who remain unbeaten in 2010 with four wins and two draws from six matches, just eight minutes to unlock the Blackburn defence. Pulis’s side had looked dangerous early on from a couple of Delap long throws and it was a set piece, a corner taken by Lawrence that brought about the goal. The winger’s whipped ball was only half cleared by N’Zonzi and dropped to Higginbotham, who had made his typical clever run to the back post, just inside the penalty area. The left back, whose only previous Premier League goal for Stoke came from he penalty spot in a win over Tottenham sixteen months ago, showed a surprisingly adept finishing touch, catching the ball perfectly on the full volley and sending it hard and low past Robinson into the bottom right corner of his goal, sparking jubilation from the home supporters, who were in party mood in bright sunshine.

They were brought to their feet again just four minutes later when Huth nudged the ball home from close range. Blackburn were given a reprieve by referee Steve Bennett though, as he judged Fuller to have committed an infringement in laying off the former Middlesbrough man and disallowed the strike.

Blackburn soon began to get a grip on what was a largely even but not particularly exciting first half though and could and perhaps should have been level on the quarter hour when Pedersen worked himself space on the left flank and curled in an inviting cross. Di Santowas unmarked six yards out with Sorensen’s goal at his mercy but failed to even force the ‘keeper into a save, heading high into the Boothen End rather than the net.

Knowing his position is in jeopardy, Sorensen was clearly out to impress, attempting to claim almost very ball into his area, but he relied on Wilkinson to bail him out midway through the half when he failed to deal with a dangerous centre and found himself stranded out of position. The ball bounced free just feet from the goal line, with several Blackburn players well positioned to apply a finish, but, showing inspiring disregard for his own well-being, instead putting the benefit of his side first, Wilkinson dived head first towards the ball, nicking it away from di Santo and receiving a deep cut to the head, but also a warm ovation from the Stoke fans, for his efforts.

The visitors’ threat was keenest from set pieces and they looked in with a shout of going in for the interval on level terms when they forced a succession of now fewer that seven corners as the first 45 minutes ticked towards their end. The Stoke goal, by no means brilliant defended, survived unbreached though and as it was, the final telling incident of the half came a the other end.

After a good move forward, Etheringtoncut inside and teased in a cross with his weaker right foot. Shawcross, who had stayed up after coming forward for a corner, jumped to meet the ball in the middle and seemed to make the merest of touches with it, diverting it perfectly into the path of Sidibe. The Malian forward, who already in his fifth campaign as a Stoke player signed a new two year contract on Thursday, evaded the attentions of Givet and made enough contact with the ball to lift it over Robinson and into the goal. His finish wasn’t pretty, but it was certainly effective; a phrase that sums up well Sidibe and Stoke’s play in general. The Blackburn players appealed for offside but the video replays showed that while Sidibe had got in behind Givet, the touch in the middle had actually been from Nelsen, meaning that as Sidibe had been behind the defender when the original ball was played, the linesman’s decision to keep his flag down was a good one.

2-0 at the break it was then, a scoreline that is often sad to be a precarious one for the leading team. That’s certainly often the case with Stoke, who always look shaky in such a position and have on countless occasions failed to push on from such a lead in recent years. That wasn’t the case yesterday though, as rather than sitting back, Pulis’smen began to turn the screw, with Shawcross unlucky to be denied a third goal of the season when Robinson dived to his left to make a spectacular save when the centre back headed Etherington’s corner towards goal, the goalkeeper showing why many back him to be included in Fabio Capello’s England squad for next summer’s World Cup, though on this form, few would argue against the inclusion of Shawcross and Etherington.

Blackburn’s hopes of a comeback were all but ended on the hour, when, already booked after clashing with Shawcross in the first half, Samba stupidly pulled back Fuller after the Jamaican had cleverly flicked the ball over his head. Bennett had no choice but to reach into his pocket and promptly did so, giving Samba his marching orders to the cheers of Potters fans and the disgust of Allardyce, who claimed he should never have received his first caution.

With a numerical advantage as well as one in terms of goals scored, the hosts set about adding to their lead and two further Etherington corners almost resulted in goals. First Higginbotham, again breaking away to the back post, headed the pinpoint ball back looping back across goal, only for it to be cleared by Olsson, then Fuller headed another whipped centre on target, drawing a good save from Robinson before Huth blazed over from the resulting scramble.

The Stoke fans didn’t have long to wait to celebrate a third goal though, as Etherington clinically curled home to mark a virtuoso performance. Cutting all the way across the pitch from the left wing, he played a neat one-two with Lawrence then cleverly turned his marker Michel Salgado, who had only come on as a substitute two minutes before. Surrounded by Blackburn players, he had no chance to find the backlift necessary to generate any power on his shot but the perfect placement of it more than made up for that, with Robinson unable to do anything to keep the ball from curving just inside has right hand post. Etherington looks a heavy favourite to claim the Stoke player of the year award and on “Sir Stanley Matthews Day”, he produced a performance of whch the wizard of dribble himself would have been very proud.

With the game in the bag, the Stoke players seemed content to see out the game playing keep-ball, with every successful pass, of which there were many, greeted by cheers from their supporters. The biggest cheer of all came when Wilkinson made a superbly timed crunching tackle though, his performance epitomising the mixture of class and fight in the Stoke side.

After three minutes of injury time, Bennett brought an end to proceedings with Stoke running out easy winners after a superb showing. Pulis, his players and their fans will doubtless be delighted with the three points, which lifts the Potters ahead of Blackburn into eleventhplace in the Premier League table, still with two games in hand on most other teams in the division ahead of Tuesday’s trip to Wigan.

There was, however, some very sad news emerging after the game that a 30 year-old Blackburn fan has tragically died after sustaining a serious head injury after an incident involving a bin that took place in the Seat Stand concourse shortly after the start of the second half. Such incidents put the trivialities of football into perspective and the thoughts of everyone at the match and indeed everyone in football are with his family.

Stoke Side:

From The Horse’s Mouth:

Stoke manager Tony Pulis:
“I don’t think I have to talk Matty (Etherington) up any more, his performances speak for themselves. If he was at a different club a lot more people would be talking him up. Matty and Ryan Shawcross have both been outstanding – people have asked me about them (making the England squad) and hopefully with a bit of luck, you never know.”

Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce:
“The first goal is disappointing because we know how dangerous Stoke are from set-pieces. Then the ref misses a handball by Dean Whitehead on the line – that’s a crucial decision that’s gone against us. They’ve put the ball in the net twice and when we’ve had the opportunity to do that we haven’t done it.”

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