Stoke went into this derby in high spirits after the historic victory at White Hart Lane, but were forced to make one change to the starting line up. The goalscorer at Tottenham, Glenn Whelan, was handed a place in the side after Salif Diao pulled out injured. Elsewhere, Tony Pulis opted to recall Thomas Sorensen to the side, after recovering from illness.

Wolves decided to start with former Stoke favourite Chris Iwelumo upfront, in place of Sylvan Ebanks-Blake.

The away side were having the brighter early exchanges but, on 17 minutes, Stoke opened the scoring. Sorensen plucked the ball out of the air and quickly set Matthew Etherington racing down the left wing. Etherington appears to have regained his confidence in recent weeks, and he flew past Ronald Zubar before playing in a perfect cross to the far post.

James Beattie appeared to hook his foot to the ball, but replays showed that George Elokobi got the final touch to help the Potters into the lead. It didn't matter who had scored, the Britannia erupted.

Beattie nearly did get himself on the scoresheet, but his header from a Ryan Shawcross cross was well palmed away by Wayne Hennessey.

Stoke were certainly controlling the first half, and scored a deserved second on the stroke of half-time. A huge Rory Delap throw wasn't cleared properly and Etherington, on the edge of the area, chester the ball before firing a volley past Hennessey. It was a cracking finish from Etherington, who was possibly having his best performance in a Stoke shirt.

To everyone in the ground, it appeared that Stoke would easily see out the match, but it was turned on its' head a minute into the second half. Substitute Nenad Milijas whipped in a debatable free-kick which was flicked on to the far post, where former Stoke loanee Jody Craddock tapped home. It was poor defending, but the fact Craddock was at least two yards offside meant the goal should have been chalked off.

It stood, and Wolves were to capitalise, and it was the same combination that did the damage. A Milijas corner found Craddock at the near post who flicked his header past a sprawling Sorensen. Within twenty minutes, a seemingly comfortable home victory had been completely turned around.

It was Wolves who seemed the more likely to get the winner, but they didn't really test Sorensen. Infact, it was Stoke who were to have the best chance. An Etherington corner fell to skipper Abdoulaye Faye completely unmarked. Eight yards out, it appeared that the net would ripple. Instead, the big defender got his bearings all wrong and his row F of the Boothen End. 

The miss summed up Stoke's second half, who were harshly booed off for their efforts. Although it should have been a victory, the draw at least meant Stoke stretched their unbeaten run to four. Now it's onto Phil Brown's Hull City...

POTTERSNET RATINGS:

Thomas Sorensen- 6. Possibly could have done better for the second goal but did well to set Etherington on the attack for Stoke's opener.
Andy Wilkinson- 7. Will probably lose his place to Huth next week, but doesn't deserve to.
Abdoulaye Faye- 5. Very shaky display from the captain.
Ryan Shawcross- 6. Better than his partner, and got forward effectively.
Danny Collins- 5. Progressively declined as the game wore on.
Rory Delap- 5. Very poor display. Delap is completely wasted on the wing.
Glenn Whelan- 6. Not up to his Spurs standard.
Dean Whitehead- 6. Missed Salif Diao next to him.
Matthew Etherington- 8 **MAN OF THE MATCH**. Very impressive display from a player who seems to be getting better and better.
Ricardo Fuller- 5. Brought down twice in the opening ten mintues, and it affected his performance.
James Beattie- 6. Did well to apply strong pressure for the opening goal.

Subsitutes:

Mamady Sidibe (replaced Beattie, 71)- 5. A welcome return to league action but seemed way off match fitness.
Tuncay Sanli (replaced Fuller, 75)- 5. Kept getting in the way of his team-mates and, overall, was rubbish.
Liam Lawrence (replaced Delap, 80)- 5. Barely touched the ball as Stoke should have been throwing the kitchen sink at Wolves.

Unused Subs: Simonsen, Higginbotham, Cort, Pugh.

Wolverhampton Wanderers: Hennessey, Zubar, Berra, Craddock, Elokobi (Stearman, 59), Edwards, Castillo (Milijas, 45), Henry, Kightly, Doyle, Iwelumo (Maierhofer, 73).

Unsued Subs: Hahnemann, Halford, Jarvis, Ebanks-Blake.

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