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Janine Self at SunSport |
Stoke 3 Fulham 2
ROY HODGSON'S injury problems are piling up - and there is no cure to Fulham's travel sickness, either.
Hodgson will be hoping Bobby Zamora and Brede Hangeland display greater powers of recovery than his team did last night.
They came within a whisker of snatching something from a snowy night in Stoke after gifting the hosts a three-goal lead.
But boss Hodgson finished with nothing to show from a performance in which Hangeland and Zamora both limped off.
Zamora has dislocated either a collar bone or a shoulder, while Hangeland has suffered a recurrence of his knee trouble.
Hodgson admitted: "We're not very fortunate with injuries this season and this was an expensive night for us.
"It was a difficult deficit to come back from. They gave it their best shot and if the game had lasted another 10 minutes I think we would have won it.
"The players made certain they finished the game in dignified fashion and did not capitulate.
"I think Stoke were pleased to have a three-goal advantage because my players gave it a good go."
The Cottagers have not won on their travels since the first day of the season. Not that Stoke will moan.
Boss Tony Pulis had double reason to celebrate. He banked the points as the club cashed in on the big freeze.
The Potters pulled out the stops to stage this fixture for the Sky cameras and a £160,000 TV bonus after the Carling Cup semi at Blackburn bit the snow.
But having streaked into the three-goal lead through Tuncay, Abdoulaye Faye and Mama Sidibe, Stoke finished the night hanging on for dear life.
The visitors melted more quickly than the snowflakes as they hit the centrally heated pitch.
Chief architects in the first half were Matthew Etherington and Tuncay, who limped off just before half-time.
In the 10th minute Eherington's corner was headed on by Robert Huth and Tuncay scored his second league goal of the season with a close-range header.
Then, after 33 minutes, Paul Konchesky gave away a totally unnecessary free-kick with a barge on Liam Lawrence out on the right.
Etherington curled in the ball and Faye slid in to bullet it past Mark Schwarzer.
The ex-West Ham star then linked up with Tuncay and Danny Higginbotham to set up Sidibe for the third.
Cue a fightback. Sub Dempsey fed Damien Duff in the 61st minute and the winger's shot beat Steve Simonsen. And five minutes from time Dempsey's 25-yarder made sure of a jittery closing session for the home side.
Pulis said: "Fulham came back strongly." Not strongly enough.
STOKE: Simonsen 6, Huth 7, HIgginbotham 7, Shawcross 7, Faye 7, Delap 6, Whitehead 6, Lawrence 7, Etherington 8, Tuncay 7, Sidibe 6. Subs: Fuller (Tuncay 42) 5, Whelan (Delap 66) 5, Lawrence (Diao 89) 4.
Not used: St Louis-Hamilton, Collins, Wilkinson, Beattie.
Booked: A Faye.
FULHAM: Schwarzer 5, Kelly 6, Konchesky 4, Hughes 5, Hangeland 5, Gera 6, Murphy 6, Baird 6, Duff 7, Zamora 5, Johnson 5. Subs: Smalling (Hangeland 45) 5, Dempsey (Zamora 54) 7, Nevland (A Johnson 82) 5.
Not used: Zuberbuhler, Kallio, Smalling, Greening, Dikgacoi.
REF: M Clattenburg 7
Source .