GREATEST GAMES AT THE VICTORIA GROUND

HERE ARE A SERIES OF THE GREATEST EVER GAMES TO TAKE PLACE AT THE VIC OVER THE YEARS. SOME YOU WILL FIND HAVE BEEN SCANNED IN BY ME FROM A SERIES OF OLD SCRAP BOOKS FROM LOCAL OR NATIONAL NEWSPAPERS, OTHERS HOWEVER HAVE BEEN WROTE BY ME, ENJOY!

 STOKE CITY VS MANCHESTER UNITED.. LEAGUE CUP 71

Okay, i wasn't even born when this game took place but it is a match that I have since seen footage of on video so I decided to include it in this great games at the vic section, because obviously it was a great game.. As it says on the team sheet on the left this was the 2nd replay after the two teams had drawn two weeks earlier 1-1 at Old Trafford and then 0-0 in the first replay.. The game started off with George Best on top form for United, testing Gordon Banks early on with a 25 yard shot that was saved by Banks, but Best got the better of Banks soon after when he beat the off side trap to put his team in front. Then later on Sammy McIIlroy almost scored a second for the visitors and Carlo Sartori had a shot cleared off the line by Denis Smith. George Eastham came on at half time for Stoke to add more depth to the midfield, then in the 70th minute a cross froim the left wing by Conroy was turned in to the path of Peter Dobing who fired home an equiliser. Then with two minutes remaining Jimmy Greenhoff forced a superb tip over save from United keeper Alex Stepney for a Stoke Corner. Eastham took it from the right wing and John Richie met it with a header to win the tie 2-1 for Stoke, seen in front of a crowd of 42,333.

 STOKE CITY VS LEEDS UNITED, DIVISION 1 ,1974 

Again this is another classic game I couldn't be at but have seen the video many times over. An almost invincible side at the time Leeds United arrived at the Victoria Ground under Don Revie looking to break Burnley's 53 year record of 30 games without defeat in the top flight. Alan Hudson had just signed for Stoke and the Potters were playing the type of football that pulled the crowds in. Leeds United, with 10 Internatinals in their side took the lead after 15 minutes when Billy Bremner was bought down outside the penalty area and he himself got up to curl the ball past Farmer in to the back of the Stoke net. Then two minutes later future Stoke City  boss to be Joe Jordon playing up front for Leeds beat the off side trap and set up Allan Clarke to hit home a second goal for Leeds, a come back at this stage looked a million miles away for Stoke, but in the 27 minute Stoke won a free kick which Alan Hudson played the ball to Mike Pejic who slammed a fierce left footed shot in to the back of United's net from 20 yards. Stoke then went on to level in the 35th minute when a cross into the box was headed on by John Ritchie to Alan Hudson who stepped past Terry Yorath and hit home an equiliser, his first goal for Stoke. In the second half Hudson took complete control of the midfield and bossed the game until eventually a 68th minute corner from Stoke's Jimmy Robertson was headed on by World Cup hero Geoff Hurst for Denis Smith to rise and head in the winning goal for Stoke to end Leeds' chances of beating Burnley's record...

 STOKE CITY VS AJAX UEFA CUP ,1974 

The season earlier a Alan Hudson "Inspired" Stoke City team had guided  Stoke City in to Europe which lead to a glorious two legged tie against Ajax Amsterdam, former European Cup winners and seen by many as one of the greatest  teams in the world. Ajax had recently sold Johan Cruyff  to Barcalona and new boss Hans Kraay had set about rebuilding the great Dutch league side And so the match kicked off and Ajax played the possession game and did a man marking job on Jimmy Greenhoff. Eventually Ajax' s class paid off and they took the lead in the 38th minute with a goal from thir captin , Krol who fired a 20 yard bullet past Farmer in the Stoke goal. In the second half Stoke came out and knew that they had to keep their European hopes alive and put the Dutch Giants under pressure,  eventually Stoke cross from the left by Mike Pejic was touched on by Greenhoff for Denis Smith to fire home at the far post on 76 minutes, the game ended 1-1.., In the second leg Stoke went off to Amsterdamn Olympic Stadium two weeks later for the second leg where they came up against a resolute Ajax defence, despite pressure from Stoke to grab a winnning goal Ajax stood firm and eventually sneaked through on away goals..

 STOKE CITY VS MANCHESTER UNITED.. LEAGUE CUP 93

This  game here has to be my all time greatest Stoke game that I have ever attended.. everything about it was magic.. After Stoke's promotion from the second division the year earlier under Lou Macari Stoke were now challenging for promotion to the Premiership and had been given a glorious home draw against Alex Ferguson's mighty Manchester United side in the Coca Cola Cup. In their previous two league games Stoke had gone to Arysome Park  and had totally torn apart  a Middlesbough team that had been playing top flight football the season before, then on the Sunday Stoke traveled away again to the promotion favorites Nottingham Forest (also relegated the season before under Brian Clough) Stoke were awesome as they  demolished Forest, going 2 0 up at half time and 3 0 up early in the second half. Forest managed to pull two late goals back to give themselves a more respectable scoreline but they had been run ragged by Lou Macari's Stoke team. The following Wednesday night it got even better as Manchester United arrived at the Vic.. Ferguson chose to rest Eric Cantona for this leg but kept faith in Premiership stars Peter Schmeichel, Steve Bruce, Gary Pallister, Mark Hughes and Lee Sharpe who was on fire at the time, Manchester United Started off by knocking the ball round well and attacking down the flanks as Stoke were put under pressure early on by the best team in England at the time. As time wore on though and with Stoke soaking up all the pressure Manchester United had to offer without any real problems. Suddenly  Ukrainian Winger Andri Kanchelskis attempted to play a through ball in to the path of Mark Hughes half way inside the Stoke City half, this however was cut out by Stoke's Icelandic midfield star Toddy Orlygsson who then gathered his composure and charged up field on the attack. Then, out of the corner of his eyes the Icelander spotted  Mark Stein who had peeled away on the right side of Peter Schemichel's penalty area, Toddy acknowledged the run and fed the ball out wide in to the path of the Golden One.. With a quick turn of  pace  Steino cut inside the box, resisting the attempt to go for the cross he  skipped past  United's Gary Pallister as if the big England defender wasn't there before unleashing a rocket of a shot that screamed  past Peter Schemichel  at blistering pace and into the roof of United's  net right infront the away supporters..  As a  cocky Stein peeled away  to celebrate his wonder goal Peter Schemichel just stood there, hands on hips and completely bewildered as the ball nestled in the back of his net, staring  at the Manchester United supporters behind his goal who were totally shell shocked after seeing The Golden One  completely lacerate their famous defence to shreds before ruthlessly putting Peter Schmeichel (arguably the worlds greatest Goalkeeper at the time) to the sword with a typical Steino-esque gem of a goal as the Victoria ground exploded in a Rhapsody of noise.. .The glory hunters were  not singing anymore!.."

And so a Mark Stein wonder goal had just sailed past Peter Schemichel in the Man United goal to give Stoke a one goal lead against the Champions and from this point on with the deafening chorus of Delilah booming around all four Stands of the Victoria Ground Stoke City always looked likely to go on and increase their lead... The second half started in much the same vain as Stoke's defence looked relatively comfortable against anything United had to offer whilst still looking dangerous themselves when ever they went on the counter attack... However half way through the second half Manchester United's England winger Lee Sharpe picked up a ball on the left of the Stoke City half, advanced forward and put in a cross that Dion Dublin met with a header to send the ball in to the back of the Stoke City net for the equalizer when maybe Mark Prudoe in the Stoke goal should of done better.. This seemed a bitter blow and a goal that United didn't really deserve as their massed supporters in the Stoke End stand celebrated and broke out in their first real song of the night "..Your not singing anymore!. " ...Their song was still echoing around the Victoria ground the moment Stoke City restarted the game from the centre circle and immediately went on the attack down the left flank.. Their song was still echoing round the Victoria ground when the ball was played in from the left wing to the feet of Mark Stein on the edge of the United penalty area, then suddenly the cocky voices of the United supporters fell silent as they realized what danger they might now be in as Mark Stein danced past Gary Pallister and Denis Irwin on the edge of United's area before firing in a low rasping bullet of a shot that flew past Peter Schemichel into the bottom right corner of the United net!.. This was absolutly unbelievable!, in less that a minute after Man United had scored their equalizer Stoke had immediately  kicked of and scored another wonder goal to regain their lead.. The Man United  supporters could not believe what was happening and Peter Schemichel looked even more bewildered than before as he stared at the jubilent, mighty Boothen End behind his goal and Mark Stein who was once again indulging in arrogant celebrations with some Stoke supporters who had spilled on to the pitch.. I watched the video of this match the other night and the commentators words as Steino celebrated summed it up perfectly.. "This man is magic!.. He scores goals that others can only dream of!..." 

And so on this evening Stoke City had defeated the Champions of England at the Victoria Ground and two weeks later they ventured off to Old Trafford for the second leg with an army of around 9,000 supporters from the Potteries...  Eventually however Stoke were overcome despite a brave fight they ended up losing to  a Lee Sharpe goal and a last minute winner by Brian Mclair against a Manchester United side that Alex Ferguson had added Roy Keane and Ryan Giggs to from the first leg in an attempt to overcome Stoke City. At times during to two legs Stoke had torn Manchester United's famous team appart and United were very lucky that this tie was over two legs as in the first game at the Vic they were well and truly a beaten outfit..

 STOKE CITY 2 PORT VALE 0, DIVISION 1,  APRIL 1997

For some people the name "Port Vale" popping up in a section that includes such great teams as Manchester United, Ajax and Leeds United seems a pretty strange choice.. but allow me to explain... Port Vale is not considered to be a "Big" derby game in the same sense that Wolverhampton Wanderers , West Bromich Albion and Birmingham City games are considered  to be...  Games against Port Vale are seen as "Local" derby games, nothing more.. However this paticular game was a little bit special and this is why it makes it into this section.. This game had some great ingredients to it.. For starters it was the last ever Potteries derby at the Victoria Ground, Port Vale at the time had one of their best ever teams under John Rudge and they were trying to sneak into the 1st Division playoffs as the season came to a close. Stoke themselves were having a pretty poor season but were only a couple of points behind Port Vale,  and finally as far as I was concerned this was THE last match to be played at the Victoria Ground.. by saying that I mean it was the last serious match to be played. ..

The last game against West Bromich Albion for me was just a big farewell party where we all got dressed up and said goodbye in what was more like a carnival than a footy match. This game against Port Vale however was to be serious business as the Stoke team had something to prove to their fans to make up for such a poor season and they also had the opportunity to end Port Vale's chances of reaching the playoffs.. This had to be a must win game for Stoke and to top it all off the game was to be shown live on TV..

Port Vale started to match well with out really threatening the Stoke defence and the only real danger they caused Stoke was when winger Jon Macarthy broke down the right wing in the first half and sent in a dangerous cross that was delt with well by the Stoke defence.. At the other end of the pitch Richard Forsyth tested Paul Musslewhite in the Vale goal with a shot that the Vale keeper held well... 

As the half went on tempers flared and on loan Sean Flynn got in to a bit of an argument with Vale players Andy Porter and Roger Koordes.. The half looked like it was going to end goalless, but then out of the blue and right on half time Stoke Striker Mike Sheron picked up the ball half way inside the Vale half before skipping  past four Vale challenges and then firing a powerful shot that looked to be rising into the top right corner of the Vale net but took a wicked deflection off of the arse of Vale defender Dean Glover which changed the direction of the shot completely as it now trickled past the stranded Musslewhite into the bottom left hand corner of the net to put Stoke 1 0 in front right on the break...

 The Ball seemed to take an eternity into the final bottom corner of the goal in front of the mediocre Vale following in the Stoke End Stand but when it finally went in  you could feel the relief and jubilation as the Victoria Ground erupted in celebration  and Shezza ran back towards the Boothen End at the other end of the pitch with the emotion clearly printed on his face as he broke his baron spell of only three previous goals to his name since the turn of the new year to add to the ninteen he netted before Christmas. Delilah rung around the Vic as the players left the pitch for half time...

The second half started and Stoke, boosted by their late goal at the end of the first half went on to boss the second half completely as they moved forward in an attempt to increase their lead,  most notably a Mike Macari overhead kick that clipped against the cross bar when a goal seemed likely.. After about 70 minutes Vale had their one clear attempt of the half and probably their best chance of the game when the ball fell to Jon McCarthy in the Stoke box how unleashed a wicked shot that was brilliantly saved at point blank range by Carl Muggelton in the Stoke goal before finally being cleared by the Stoke defence.. This sudden scare woke Stoke up though as they tightened up at the back and in the 85 minute an attempted  clearance in the Port Vale box by Dean Glover was charged down by the inspirational Carl Beeston in to the path of  Mike Sheron who blasted a first time shot without hesitation into the back of the Port Vale net as the Boothen End behind the goal again errupted in what had to go down as one of the best mentals of the season.. 

It was a great feeling..  As the game moved on Sheron came close to a hat trick in the final minutes but a third headed goal was foiled by Vale defender Neil Aspin.. Then Ray Wallace burst through from midfield for Stoke for a one on one attempt to add a third only to miss hit  his shot which went just wide of the Vale net. Then another opportunity happened only seconds later when Stoke sub Neil Macenzie found himself in the Vale box only for his goal attempt to be closed down by what remained of Vale's shattered defence when really he should of done  better.. The final whistle eventually went and the Victoria Ground celebrated a memorable game that they really should of won by four or five clear goals but at the end of the day everyone was happy with a two nil victory as all of the home fans  in the ground began to get their preparations ready for the West Brom game the following week...