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Stoke City 3-0 Blackburn Rovers
Match Reports, 17:38, February 6, 2010 ,
Stoke went above Blackburn in the Premier League table after recording a convincing 3-0 win against 10-man Rovers.
The Potters retained their unbeaten start to 2010 with a comfortable victory over a Blackburn team that suffered their ninth defeat in 13 away games this term. The match was a scrappy affair that was low on quality, but the Potters' superior finishing gave them a deserved three points.
Danny Higginbotham opened the scoring on eight minutes, firing home sweetly with a left-footed volley after Rovers failed to properly clear a corner. That set the tone for a visitors' defensive display that was characterised by an inability to cope with Stoke set-pieces.
Rovers were marginally the better team in the rest of the first period but went into the break two goals behind after Mamady Sidibe evaded Gael Givet in added time to poke home a Matthew Etherington cross that was set-up by a Rory Delap throw-in.
Franco di Santo should have levelled on 20 minutes, but he somehow headed over a pinpoint cross from Morten Gamst Pedersen from six yards.
Christopher Samba had a header cleared off the line during a spell of six Rovers corners in quick succession midway through the half as Stoke failed to build on their early goal.
Rovers never looked like recovering from a two-goal deficit and their task became even harder on the hour, when Samba was dismissed for a second bookable offence. Rovers subsided thereafter and were only saved from a true hammering thanks to a series of fine Paul Robinson saves.
Matthew Etherington was the one man to score after the break, curling home a fine individual effort on 67 minutes after the Rovers defence back-pedalled. It was another piece of poor defending from the visitors, who endured a torrid afternoon in every department.
Stoke helped Tony Pulis celebrate his 300th game as Potters boss in style, although the manager will know that his team were not at their best, a reflection of how poor Rovers were.