sport news Stoke 3-1 Stevenage: Jacob Brown, Josh Laurent and Lewis Baker on target for ... trends now
This was one FA Cup miracle too far for Stevenage but for a giddy few minutes it did appear the conquerors of Aston Villa might claim another headline-grabbing result.
Stoke had been the superior side, but when Jamie Reid burst through to cancel out Jacob Brown’s early goal, there was a very distinct sense here that the League Two underdogs could cause more mischief.
Alas, it wasn’t to be this time for Steve Evans and his doughty team. The celebrations in the away end had barely died down when Josh Laurent’s screamer restored the Championship club’s lead and Lewis Baker made sure with a penalty.
Josh Laurent scored the pick of the goals as Stoke dispatched League Two Stevenage in the FA Cup
Evans and Stoke boss Alex Neil completed their coaching badges together, both hail from Scotland and are good pals. Neil wouldn’t have been surprised to see his team troubled by the battling qualities Evans has instilled.
But the truth was Stoke should have been well out of sight, with Stevenage indebted to their goalkeeper Taye Ashby-Hammond, who made a series of important saves at 1-0.
This FA Cup run offers the Potters some respite from the drudgery of lower half existence in the Championship, though they must put some more points on the board to banish relegation fears.
Jacob Brown third-minute goal gave Alex Neil's side a perfect start in the fourth round clash
Stevenage will return to the bread and butter of winning promotion into League One and they certainly won’t be dismayed by the manner of this defeat.
It had already been a good weekend for Stevenage with the only team above them in League Two, Leyton Orient, losing 1-0 at Tranmere on Saturday. That result left Stevenage two points behind Orient with two games in hand.
Their boisterous 3,300 travelling fans sung ‘we are going up’ but be in no doubt they didn’t want their FA Cup adventure to conclude quite yet.
They got off to a dreadful start against a strong Stoke side, with Neil handing a debut to the Kosovo international Bersant Celina, just arrived on loan from Dijon.
Entrusted right away with corner-taking duties, it didn’t take long for Celina, a product of Manchester City’s academy, to make an impact.
His third-minute delivery was headed on by Ben Wilmot at the near post and Brown was afforded an embarrassing amount of time and space to control the
