Clinical Stoke City cruise to pre-season triumph against 10-man Aston Villa

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Goals from Steven Fletcher and Mario Vrancic secured a surprisingly comfortable pre-season victory for Stoke City against Premier League opponents Aston Villa.

With the game less than two minutes old, Stoke had the first chance to break the deadlock. Nick Powell charged down the right and floated a pinpoint cross in from deep to the head of Fletcher, which looped straight over Jed Steer into the back of the net opening the scoring.

The West Midlands outfit looked to make a swift reply with six minutes played as Ollie Watkins found himself in behind. The Englishman chose to hold up the play awaiting the support of Anwar El Ghazi and Emi Buendia, however, Tommy Smith closed down the Villa attacker and intercepted the ball.

Watkins was on the ball once again three minutes later, however, a challenge from Ben Wilmot was deemed a foul by referee Leigh Doughty which saw Aston Villa with a free-kick opportunity. Ashley Young stepped up to take the free-kick from 25 yards which went narrowly wide of Joe Bursik’s left-hand post.

A quiet period followed as chances were kept to a minimum by both defences. As the half-way point of the first period loomed, the Potters attempted to play out from the back which saw Bursik caught in possession by Watkins, his deflection allowed the ball to fall kindly to the feet of El Ghazi, but Stoke’s goalkeeper recovered in time to make a fantastic fingertip save onto the post.

The Dutchman had another chance to clinch an equaliser moments later, but he blasted his shot over the goal into the jeering Boothen End.

Just before the half-hour mark, El Ghazi and Buendia strung together some excellent build-up play before the Argentine unleashed a shot at goal, however, Bursik was once again equal to it.

Mario Vrancic made it 2-0 to the hosts in the 50th minute. Shrugging off several challenges as he ferociously drove from halfway like a man on a mission, he unleashed a sweet strike from 20-yards out which flew straight into the top-right corner.

Just before the hour mark, Stoke were searching for a third as Powell tried to find Fletcher however the forward failed to latch onto the end of the playmaker’s cross.

On the hour mark, it was all change for Villa as they brought on Ezri Konsa, Matt Targett and Conor Hourihane.

Moments later, Brown had another chance to make it three, but his tame effort was comfortably claimed by Viljami Sinisalo.

Powell and Wesley battled for the ball in the Stoke half, which resulted in a foul. Villa’s Brazilian forward saw red-mist descend as he headbutted the City man, resulting in his dismissal from the game with Powell also being booked by referee Doughty.

Stoke made changes of their own as Morgan Fox, Joe Allen, Vrancic, Powell and Doughty were replaced by James Chester, Sam Clucas, Jordan Thompson, Josh Tymon and youngster Adam Porter.

With 15 minutes remaining, Clucas’ inswinging corner found the head of Danny Batth, but his effort was tipped away by Sinisalo.

Wilmot made a clumsy challenge on Davis, forcing the referee to award a free-kick to the away side. Hourihane stepped up and his effort from 20-yards out beat the wall, but like Young’s first-half attempt, went wide of Bursik’s goal.

The Potters launched a swift counter-attack, which saw Tymon cut in and unleash a powerful shot, but Sinisalo strongly palmed it away. Thankfully for Villa, no Stoke attackers could meet the rebound.

Bursik pulled off another extraordinary save with five minutes remaining as the England under-21 international was alert to react and dive to deny Davis’ powerful header.

Stoke were able to fend off Villa in the end as the Potters beat the Premier League outfit with relative ease in the end.

After the game, Stoke City manager Michael O’Neill told Prost International’s Harvey Todd his view on the fans’ return to the Bet365 Stadium:

“Even the game we played on Tuesday night against Crewe it was great to have a reaction to events that happen in the game! That’s what it’s all about, that’s what the fans are there for, to react to different incidents in the game…

O’Neill added:

“It was good, you know we want to be coming here on the opening day of the season and we want to give the fans something to get excited about, it was great to have them back in the stadium and the players certainly welcomed that too!”

The Potters now turn their attention to a trip to Wigan on Tuesday evening, where they will hope to extend their unbeaten pre-season run as they head into their final pre-season clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers next Saturday.

For Villa, they have a training friendly against Nottingham Forest on Wednesday before visiting Bristol City in a week’s time.

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