A second half hat trick from new recruit Chris Greenacre ensured that Stoke got their pre-season fixtures off to a scoring start, notching no less than seven goals against local North West Counties League side Newcastle Town.  |
Stoke fielded a very strong squad for the first half of the game. Brynjar Gunnarsson was still absent, as he is still on light training, so his usual birth in midfield was taken up by Karl Henry. Clive Clarke was also absent as he is still having trouble with his knee (aren't sure whether he has had his keyhole surgery or not). JVD took his place at left back.
Robbie Winters, on trial from SPL side Aberdeen started the game on the right side of midfield. He clearly gelled from the start with Thommo down the right flank, with Wayne, sporting his new eye catching haircut, combining well with the Scot.
Stoke didn't take too long to open the scoring, with trialist Robbie Winters scoring a peach. On recieving the ball he sent a shot into the net from inside the area, with the Newcastle 'keeper well and truly beaten.
The non-league Newcastle however, were fairly quick to reply. After the numerous Stoke attacks, Newcaslte began their first and their Number 9 (Mike Lennon?) made no mistake after Cutler had made a mess of things, despite the best efforts of captain Peter Handyside on the Stoke line.
However, the Stoke attack got the Potters back into the game (not that we were really ever out of it, with all due respect to N.T). Big Chris played the ball to Marc Goodfellow and the pacey young forward found the bottom corner of the net.
Marc was denied his second shortly after. Chris Iwelumo won the ball in the air, and nodded down to "Freezer" who found the net, only to see the ref blow his whistle. Personally, I, along with the rest of the crowd, felt there was nothing wrong, but I would probably say the ref blew for an infringment to the 'keeper.
 Freezer did get his second though, getting hold of a loose ball in the penalty area and drilling it into the bottom corner. This time it counted though, but there was to be no hat-trick for Marc as he was one of many expected changed during the interval.
The second half saw a mixture of young blood with some of the more squad players from last season. Bjarni Gudjonsson (right) was brought onto the right wing, and recieved an encouragable response from the crowd. Petur Marteinsson was also brought on, along with new signing Chris Greenacre.
It would be interesting to see how Chris would do on his first appearance, and he certainly gave a good account of himself, that is for sure.
Chris Greenacre got himself onto the scoresheet soon after the restart. He hit a shot from just outside the area into the bottom left hand corner.
 Chris Greenacre opens his account |
Andy Cooke could have made it five, but fired his shot straight at the 'Town goalie. Chris Greenacre was soon firing from all cylinders again though. He made it 5-1 to Stoke with a delightful goal, turning and firing the ball into the net leaving the 'keeper with no chance whatsoever.
A good performance from Lewis Neal also saw him get on the scoresheet. Andy Cooke picked up the ball on the wing, and delivered a ball into the centre which Lewis Neal tucked away to make it 6-1.
Chris Greenacre completed his hat trick and put Stoke in seventh heaven with his final goal. It might have been from close range after a scramble, but they all count!
So, a job well done for Stoke, but take nothing away from NTFC. They managed to pull the game level early on, and always carried on trying, whatever the scoreline was. However, quite obviously there is a quality gap between the six divisions, and many of the Stoke squad knew that they had to impress the new gaffer. |
Newcastle Town 1 - 7 Stoke City - Match Report 