FULL TIME: Stoke City 3 Rovers 0 - A poor afternoon all round for Rovers.
90+4 MINS: Whelan with a free-kick, off a head in the wall and behind for a corner.
90+2 MINS: Yellow for Andrews for pulling back Tuncay.
90+1 MINS: Stoke make their final change, Glenn Whelan comes on for Rory Delap.
90 MINS: Three additional minutes to be played.
85 MINS: Lawrence takes from the left, Rovers clear.
84 MINS; Rovers pressure, but it is Stoke who go up the other end and earn a corner. To back post, Higginbotham heads, hits Salgado and behind.
81 MINS: Sidibe is replaced by James Beattie.
79 MINS: Tuncay on for Fuller.
73 MINS: Steven Reid on for Steven Nzonzi
73 MINS: Yellow card for Fuller as he catches Givet.
67 MINS: The inevitable third has arrived, Matthew Etherington skips inside past a couple of players, then a one-two before steering the ball past Robinson into the far corner of the goal. Stoke City 3 Rovers 0
66 MINS: Another corner from Etherington, Fuller heads and Robinson dives to make an important save.
65 MINS: A second change for Rovers. Pascal Chimbonda makes way for Michel Salgado, or, if you are the Stoke announcer, Michael Salgado.
61 MINS: Corner from Stoke, Higginbotham heads, Olsson cleas off the line.
60 MINS: Saw Rovers reshuffle. Olsson to left back, Givet to centre back. Andrews on for Di Santo who has been very ineffective.
59 MINS: Samba is sent off for pulling back Fuller, Steve Bennett shows him the yellow followed by the red.
57 MINS: Pedersen with a free-kick on the right corner of the area, but he can only strike the wall. Stoke break upfield and have numbers over but Robinson races out of his box to clear.
55 MINS: Givet concedes a corner on the right. Rovers leave just Kalinic up front. Etherington with the corner, Shawcross heads goalwards, Robinson saves splendidly left-handed to push the ball aside.
52 MINS: Yellow for Nzonzi as he catches Whitehead with a high boot as he clears. One of those where if Whitehead doesn't clear it he doesn't catch the man.
48 MINS: Nelsen heads away one Delap throw, here comes another, he throws this one straight behind.
46 MINS: No changes from either side as Stoke City get the second half underway, immediately winning a throw. Delap into the area, Rovers clear their lines.
Half time: Stoke City 2 Rovers 0 - An awful first half to watch and quite how Stoke lead this 2-0 beggars belief.
45+2 MINS: The ball comes back into the area and Sidibe bundles the ball home at the back post. Stoke City 2 Rovers 0
45+2 MINS: Delap with a throw into the centre, there's a scramble a Olsson clears away. Paul Robinson looked to have been fouled when trying to get the ball.
45 MINS: Three additional minutes to be played as Pedersen hits the free-kick into the area, referee Steve Bennett sees something and blows for a home free-kick.
45 MINS: Shawcross wrestles Kalinic to the ground, Rovers free-kick, Stoke defender treading on thin ice.
44 MINS: Lawrence in from the left, Olsson heads away and Delap puts the ball behind for a Rovers goalkick.
43 MINS: Etherington on the run down the left, Chimbonda stops the cross at the expense of a corner.
41 MINS: Pedersen throws into the area, comes out to Nzonzi but he skies the effort.
39 MINS: Wilkinson told to go off for more treatment as blood streams from his head.
38 MINS: Pedersen in from the left, Shawcross heads away and Stoke run upfield with Etherington but he puts the ball out for a goal kick.
37 MINS: Yellow cards for both Samba and Shawcross. Pedersen in from the right, off a Stoke player, corner from the left. I'm starting to lose count.
37 MINS: Pedersen's corners causing chaos. Another one is headed behind.
36 MINS: How did that not go in? Pedersen in from the left, Samba heads and someone on the line clears for another corner.
35 MINS: Samba and Shawcross pushing and shoving, there's a delay before Pedersen can take the kick from the right. This time it almost goes in but Sorensen pushes it behind again.
34 MINS: Poor near post kick from Pedersen but Whitehead hits it behind for a second attempt.
34 MINS: After much dithering from Steve Bennett as to where a Rovers free-kick should be taken. Pedersen whips in a great ball that Sorensen has to push behind for a corner.
32 MINS: Kalinic out to Olsson on the left, he sends the ball over to the other attacker Di Santo but Sorensen gets there first. Stoke release the ball quickly, Emerton is deemed to have brought down Etherington but the free-kick comes to nothing.
31 MINS: A brave backheader from Samba, Robinson claims comfortably.
29 MINS: Etherington into the area, Samba clears and Rovers give chase upfield. Kalinić judged to have fouled Higginbotham. Rovers fans are suggesting the officials are a little one-sided.
28 MINS: Wilkinson is lead to the touchline. Play is back underway. Fuller is pushed in the back by Nelsen. Free-kick to Stoke.
26 MINS: Pedersen with a long throw into the area, Sorensen misses it, Kalinic turns to shoot but Wilkinson gets there first, the Stoke defender is bloodied for his troubles.
25 MINS: This referee continues to baffle. Pedersen with a free-kick into the area, Nzonzi rises, he's in front of his man, yet there goes the whistle again.
24 MINS: Good battling by Kalinic, really making tghe Stoke defenders work hard.
20 MINS: What a chance for Rovers, Kalinic does well to feed Givet, then wide to Pedersen, he whips the ball in, Di Santo with the header, over. Head in hands stuff.
19 MINS: Etherington takes the kick left-footed, high over the bar.
18 MINS: Fuller is sandwiched by Nelsen and Nzonzi, whistle happy referee blows for a free-kick to Stoke, 25 yards out, dead centre.
16 MINS; Meanwhile a Delap throw into the centre is headed on by Shawcross but over the bar. TV replays show a throw from the other end from Pedersen where Samba appears to be pulled to the ground by Shawcross.
15 MINS: Sidibe comes off worse when going for a header with Givet. That prompts James Beattie to warm up in front of the Rovers fans. "Beattie is a Rover" chant the Rovers fans.
14 MINS: Olsson goes to ground in the area after a tangle of legs, nothing doing from Rovers point of view, the home fans think he's dived.
12 MINS: Etherington with the corner, Fuller fouls his man as he heads, referee Steve Bennett blows his whistle.
11 MINS: Lively stuff from Fuller takes on Givet, wins a corner off the Frenchman.
9 MINS: Lawrence with the corner kick, Olsson heads away but Danny Higginbotham lashes the ball through the crowd and into the back of the net from the edge of the area. Stoke City 1 Rovers 0
8 MINS: Home side on the attack with Fuller, out left to Etherington who looks to centre, Samba blocks for a corner.
6 MINS: Plenty of noise from the 1400 Rovers fans away to my right.
5 MINS: Rovers swift on the attack, Olsson back to Emerton who takes it down the left to cross. Defended for a corner which Pedersen takes. To the back post where Nzonzi tries to keep possession but a generous flag from the linesman on the far side gives Stoke a free-kick.
4 MINS: Delap throws into the area, the ball is headed back twice and Robinson dives to claim.
3 MINS: Lawrence into the centre, Samba heads away.
2 MINS: Throw to Stoke, Delap launches it, Nelsen heads away. Di Santo adjudged to have fouled in the corner, free-kick to Stoke on the left side of the area.
0 MINS: Rovers get the game underway kicking from right to left in the first half.
Team news:
Sam Allardyce makes just the one change from the side that drew 0-0 with West Ham United last time out.
Franco Di Santo comes in to partner Niko Kalinić up front with El-Hadji Diouf dropping to the substitutes bench.
STOKE: Sorensen, Wilkinson, Huth, Shawcross, Higginbotham, Lawrence, Delap, Whitehead, Etherington, Fuller, Sidibe.
Subs: Begovic (GK), Whelan, Beattie, Pugh, Diao, Tuncay, Collins.
ROVERS: Robinson, Chimbonda, Samba, Nelsen (c), Givet, Emerton, Nzonzi, Pedersen, Olsson, Di Santo, Kalinić.
Subs: Brown (GK), Roberts, Reid, Andrews, Diouf, Hoilett, Salgado.
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