12:00pm Friday 1st January 2010
By Dave Flett
STOKE are set to field at least four full internationals during tomorrow’s FA Cup third round home clash against York City.
Potters manager Tony Pulis is weighing up whether or not to rest the majority of his first team ahead of Tuesday’s Premier League home match with Fulham.
One option could be to recall strikers Ricardo Fuller and Mamady Sidibe, who play for Jamaica and Mali respectively.
Senegal midfielder Amdy Faye and Welsh centre-back Danny Collins are also due to start after staying on the bench for Monday’s 1-0 home defeat to Birmingham City.
In goal, meanwhile, former England under-21 ’keeper Steve Simonsen is certain to deputise for Denmark number one Thomas Sorensen.
Ex-Manchester United centre-back Ryan Shawcross, who was unlikely to be risked anyway, is ruled out due to suspension while injured fellow defender Andy Wilkinson is also expected to be sidelined.
But one-time Newcastle and Portsmouth right-back Andy Griffin is due to be handed a rare start, along with former Leeds midfielder Danny Pugh.
Further internationals could make up Stoke’s midfield. Salif Diao (Senegal) and Glenn Whelan (Republic of Ireland) were both banned against Birmingham and might need game time ahead of the Fulham match.
Former Gillingham boss Pulis could also decide to keep long-throw specialist Rory Delap, another Irish international, in the team after he was recalled against Alex McLeish’s men.
Discussions are taking place to decide whether Dave Kitson and Michael Tonge will have their respective loan spells at Middlesbrough and Preston extended, so neither is poised to figure against the Minstermen.
Former Bootham Crescent striker Richard Cresswell is also set to complete a permanent transfer to Sheffield United.
In the League Cup this season, Pulis made ten outfield changes to his side in all three of their games in the competition.
He also rested seven players for last season’s 2-0 FA Cup defeat at Hartlepool.
None of the Potters’ leading marksmen – three-goal quartet James Beattie, Kitson, Matthew Etherington and Robert Huth – are expected to feature for a team with the worst scoring record in the top flight.
Stoke have netted only 15 times in 19 games and failed to get on the scoresheet in five of their last six outings.
In total, the Staffordshire side have only won once in ten games – a 1-0 home victory over bottom-of-the-table Portsmouth in mid-November – and taken just two points from a possible 18.
Pulis’ men are still 12th in the Premier League table, however, albeit only three points above the relegation places.
Stoke’s defensive record and home form has prevented them from falling into the bottom three.
The Potters boast the sixth-best goals conceded column in the division, ahead of the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City, keeping clean sheets against Blackburn, Portsmouth, Tottenham, Sunderland, Birmingham and Burnley.
Birmingham, meanwhile, became only the third side this season to win in ten fixtures at the Britannia Stadium on Monday, following on from Chelsea and Manchester United.
With the Minstermen taking 4,000 supporters to Stoke, though, it will represent the biggest away crowd of the season, with a limit of 2,900 in league games.
An attendance of approximately 14,000 is expected for the match.
THE clubs have met once before in the FA Cup and that was in the third round in 1968/9 at Bootham Crescent when First Division (Premier) Stoke beat Fourth Division City 2-0 thanks to two goals from Harry Burrows.
The teams lined up on January 4, 1969, watched by 11,129, as follows:
City: Widdowson, Kelly, Richardson, Carr, Topping, Burrows, Taylor, Ross, MacDougall, Hodgson, Boyer.
Stoke: Banks, Marsh, Elder, Barnard, Bloor, Skeels, Eastham, Dobing, Conroy, Herd, Burrows.
Players who have represented both clubs include Roger Jones, Viv Busby, Dave McAughtrie, Chris Evans, Denis Smith, Sean Haslegrave, Paul Barnes, Chris Iwelumo, Richard Cresswell and Jon Parkin.
This is City’s 29th appearance in the third round and on 12 occasions they have progressed to the next stage, the last time being in 2001/2 when, after knocking out Grimsby Town, they lost at home 2-0 to Premiership Fulham in the last 32.
• It happened on January 2
1954: Sid Storey and Campbell Burgess scored in a 2-0 home win over Scunthorpe United and City moved off the bottom of Divsion Three North. The crowd was 5,355.
1960: A 5-2 defeat at Coventry City with Billy Hughes and John Edgar on the scoresheet. City were mid-table in the Third Division (League One).
1961: Colin Addison netted twice along with Peter Wragg in a 3-1 win at Hartlepools United. It was the first away victory of the season and City were in the top half of Division Four.
1965: A 2-1 victory at Bradford City with Norman Wilkinson and Paul Aimson the marksmen. It was the tenth game without defeat and City were in the top four of the Fourth.
1971: Ian Davidson netted twice in a 2-0 win for Fourth Division City over Second Division (Championship) Bolton Wanderers in the third round of the FA Cup at Bootham Crescent watched by 10,882.
1982: City lost 4-3 at Altrincham in a round two FA Cup replay. Scorers were Brian Pollard (2) and Keith Walwyn.
1984: Fourth Division leaders City beat Mansfield 2-1 at home, with Gary Ford and Alan Hay the scorers. The attendance was 5,682.
1995: A 2-0 success at Oxford and City were mid-table in the Second (League One). Glenn Naylor and an opponent were on the scoresheet.
1999: City moved up to 9th in Division Two following a 2-1 win at Wycombe Wanderers with Richard Cresswell and Barry Jones on target.
2005: A 2-0 defeat at home to Scarborough. The attendance was 4,439.
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