Stoke City 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 3

Last updated : 26 September 2005 By Footymad Previewer
Wolves got their promotion bid back on track with a comfortable win at inconsistent Stoke City.

An action-packed first half started as it meant to go on with The Potters having the rub of the green early on.

After Darrel Russell had fired a volley wide seconds into the game, Gabor Gyepes controversially brought Mamady Sidibe to ground inside the area but the referee turned down any penalty shouts.

Sidibe was in the thick of the action again on 16 minutes when he met Paul Gallagher's left sided sweeping cross at the back post but his touch carried the ball wide.

Although short of chances, Wolves had no trouble in gaining their fair share of possession and finally got a shot on goal five minutes later. Ki-Hyeon Seol's corner was flicked to the left side of the box but an unmarked Carl Cort could only manage to steer the ball wide of Steve Simonsen's right post.

Seol's persistence paid off when his run past Marlon Broomes on the left gave him room to provide a low cross that bounced in favour of Cort as he poked home from close range after 42 minutes.

Wolves doubled their lead only three minutes after the break when another Seol cross was deflected into the path of Kenny Miller who beat Simonsen to the ball leaving the goalkeeper stranded from six yards.

To finish off a classy performance, Lee Naylor stepped up to fire a 30-yard free-kick in the 73rd minute past Simonsen to give Stoke their second home drubbing of the month.

Although only a consolation, Stoke did manage to breach the away defence when Lewis Buxton headed Gallagher's corner into the top left-hand pocket of Michael Oakes' net.