Capo's Match Report: Hajduk Split 0-1 Stoke City

Hajduk Split    0    -    1    Stoke City                                                       Milicevic OG     90+1   Att: 29, 548   Potters March on in Europe with Ease   Stoke made history last night by winning their first ever away European tie with a scrappy 1-0 win in Croatia. The Potters go through to the final qualifying round of the Europa League with a 2-0 aggregate win.   Stoke looked in control throughout the two legs and in particularly last night where they controlled most of the game.  Woodgate made his competitive debut in a re-shuffled defence which saw Huth at right back where he put in a normal solid display.  Stokes performance was capped in stoppage time as Hajduk defender Milicevic put Whitehead's cross into his own net under pressure from Shotton to make it 1-0 on the night.   The Potters fielded a strong team but were missing Delap who had picked up an injury which made Splits tactics of moving the advertising boards closer to pitch rather silly.  Stoke looked unfazed by the hostile atmosphere in the ground and went about their business and completed a professional job in style.    Split started the brighter as expected and got at Stoke in the 5th minute when Tomasov broke into the box but Woodgate was there to put the ball behind for a corner.  From the resulting corner Brkljaca then headed over, Stoke looked a little nervy.              Stoke gradually grew into the game and it wasn't until the 15th minute when they had their first attack but Walters hit his shot straight at Milicevic which looked like it struck his arm but penalty shouts were waved away.  Jones then had a shout for another penalty waved away after he was wrestled to the ground.    In the 30th minute Walters got clattered by Milicevic which saw the Split player booked, a stretcher was brought on for Walters which was a worrying moment for Pulis whose squad is already down to the bare bones.  Walters was soon up on his feet and getting on with the game.    Huth was next to try his luck but his shot was high and wide after Pennant's delivery just eluded Jones head.  Etherington then whipped in a cross but the goal keeper gathered comfortably before Jones could pounce.  Stoke looked on top and were pushing on for the vital away goal which would inevitably kill the tie.  Split grew increasingly frustrated towards the end of the first half and picked up another yellow card when Andric seethed down Pennant from behind the Split player was lucky to only receive a yellow for that challenge.      Tomasov fired a shot in towards the end of the first half, but Begovic caught it comfortably.   The natives were growing restless as the second half got underway and started to throw bottles and objects towards the pitch after Huth had put in challenge on Vukovic on the touchline.       Whelan then saw his shot saved comfortably, shortly after Huth had challenged Vukovic, Shawcross then put a challenge in on him which was too much for the Split player and he substituted for Sharbini.   Shortly after coming on Sharbini broke into the Stoke box but Shawcross dealt with the danger by putting the ball behind for a corner.  Whitehead then went into the book in the 63rd minute after clattering Sharbini.  Shawcross then headed wide from Pennant's corner.   At the other end Trebotic scuffed an effort wide before being taken off for Saric.   Tomasov saw a free-kick deflect the wrong side of the post off Whelan and then hoisted a shot well wide.   With a little under 15 minutes to go, Pulis withdrew Jones and introduced Diao.   Brkljaca then blatantly dived in the box in poor and pathetic effort to get a penalty, should have been booked or even sent off for that.  Shocking!   After Begovic smothered a Tomasov shot, it was Pennant who received a booking for time-wasting, Pulis almost immediately substituting the winger for Pugh.   Walters then came off for Shotton, who was the hero late on as he pressured the defender to put the ball into his own net.  Sorry Shotts it was an own goal.   Pulis said after the game, "I'm very proud of the players and for the football club.   "The chairman has his family out here today. They will be absolutely delighted and I am very pleased for them.   "We were quietly confident. The important thing was to make sure that we came here with the lads full of confidence.   "We know Hajduk are a very famous and great club, and they have fantastic supporters - we knew the atmosphere would be brilliant.   "But we thought that if we played our game and we played as well as we can, with the lads putting the effort and commitment in, then we'd have as good a chance as them of winning the game.   "This is the first time the club has played a European tie and actually qualified or gone through, so it's another new bridge we have crossed.   "We got into the Premier League a few years ago, then we got to Wembley and now we have crossed this bridge - they are three fantastic achievements in such a small space of time."   As he had done for the first leg, Pulis named a strong side for the match, handing a Stoke debut to summer signing Woodgate.   Pulis revealed he had made the decision to play the former Tottenham, Real Madrid and England defender several days earlier.   "I decided about a week ago," Pulis said. "I thought this would be the right game for him, given his experience."   Woodgate came into the heart of Stoke's defence with Huth switching to full-back in place of Andy Wilkinson, who was not included in the squad.   Delap - replaced by Whitehead in the starting 11 - had not travelled with the group and Pulis confirmed both he and Wilkinson were nursing injuries.   "Rory has got a slight hamstring strain, so we decided not to bring him," Pulis said.   "Wilko has actually broken a toe. Although he has trained for the last couple of days, if he had got a knock on it, he could have been out for four or five weeks and we didn't want to take that risk.   "Robert has played at right-back before and although it is not his favoured position, he is not bad at it."   Hajduk coach Balakov insisted he was satisfied with his players' efforts.   "I am not disappointed," Balakov said. "I would be disappointed only if the team did not give their best.   "The team have given their best and the fact that it was not enough is just unfortunate.   "The team have shown character and effort and done everything in their power to win."   . Ref: De Marco   STOKE CITY: Begovic, Huth, Shawcross, Woodgate, Etherington, Wilson, Pennant (Pugh), Whitehead, Whelan, Walters (Shotton), Jones (Diao)      SUBS: Sorensen, Danny Collins, Shotton, Diao, Pugh, Tonge, Arismendi      MAN OF THE MATCH: Huth, made the switch easily enough from centre back.  Still not his best position though