Stoke Shock Dynamo with Draw in Kiev.

Cameron Jerome’s first ever goal for Stoke was almost enough to steal an away win in Kiev in their first Europa League group game, but a late strike in injury time left the Potters with just a point on their travels.

Jerome’s strike came just before the hour mark broke the deadlock against the run of play, the former Birmingham City striker was able to control Shotton’s low cross before firing into the roof of the Kiev net. 

But deep into stoppage time the Ukrainians equalized through Ognjen Vukojevic, breaking Potters hearts that had, until then, been dreaming of a impressive win in the Ukrainian capital.

Tony Pulis made eight changes to the side that beat Liverpool last Saturday. Among the changes were starting debuts for Wilson Palacios, who joined Glenn Whelan and co in the Stoke midfield, while Jerome partnered Kenwyne Jones up front. 

Despite the freshness of the Stoke side it was Kiev who had the upper hand in the opening quarter of the game. Andriy Shevchenko and Andriy Yarmolenko caused problems for the Potters at the back, while the Ukrainians’ defensive lines held firm in the center and middle of the park. 

Kiev left-back Goran Popov almost crashed in a drive from distance after 20 minutes but Thomas Sorensen was able to direct the ball away from goal before Yarmolenko squandered the easy rebound, keeping the Potters on level terms. 

Stoke responded after the chance and began to play with more structure in defence forcing Kiev to back-up, restricting them to long range efforts clearing Dynamo from the edge of the Stoke penalty box.

Kiev maintained possession and created chances, the best of which fell to Artem Milevsky but his strike, after Danilo Silva’s low cross, was straight at Sorensen and again failed to really challenge the Potters’ keeper.

Once they’d gone behind Kiev found a wall of Potters defenders every time they came forward and the home side found it difficult to create chances inside 25 yards. 

Substitute Olexander Aliyev made an impact coming on for Milos Ninkovic, first forcing full stretch save from Sorensen with a long range effort, and then striking the cross bar form 20 yards out to the relief of the Stoke defence.

Andriy Shevchenko wasted an opportunity when he chose to pass rather then test Stoke’s keeper as he bore down on goal but signs that Kiev would break down the Stoke defenses were beginning to show.

Late in stoppage time Ognjen Vukojevic popped up, latching onto Yarmolenko’s low cross to give Dynamo a deserved equalizer. 

Stoke weathered a last storm from Kiev as they went in search of a winner, but a late Aliyev freekick failed to break the wall, as the Potters went home with a point from Eastern Europe.

Berra Ready To Bounce Back This Weekend

“We need to put them under pressure and not let them settle and take our chances when we can.”

That’s the simple formula that Chirstophe Berra believes will bring his high flying Wolves the result they need this Saturday when they welcome QPR to the Molineux.

“We won’t take anything for granted, this is a tough game.”

QPR represent a serious threat to Wolves’ impressive start to the season and sit just three points behind the McCarthy’s boys holding 11^th place in the Premiership. 

With four points from their opening four games and a whole host of new faces at the club from the August transfer window, including Shawn Wright-Phillips Luke Young and Anton Ferdinand, Neil Warnock’s side will be no pushover Saturday afternoon.

“We’re at home and it’s a game we want to get a positive result from” added Berra. 

Wolves season began with two wins from their opening two games but a draw at Aston Villa and a loss last week at home to Tottenham have slightly halted the Midlander’s momentum. Berra however doesn’t see the side’s positive attitude to their early season performances dwindling.

“We are disappointed to lose any game but we’ve done well against Spurs in the past and wanted to keep that going,

“Our performance was decent but they [Tottenham] had that added quality to cut us open,

“The defeat will drive us on through for the next game and we want to put things right against QPR.”

Kick-off at the Molineux is 15:00pm this Saturday.

New Look Gunners Begin With A Win.

Despite a flat-footed performance, Adre Arshavin’s bizarre strike was enough to give Arsenal their first win of the season against struggling Premiership new boys Swansea City.

The Gunners, armed with new signings Mikel Arteta and Per Mertersacker, flew out of the starting gates in front of 60,000 at the Emirates. 

Arteta dictated the play in the opening 20 minutes, providing chances for both Aaron Ramsey and Robin Van Persie although neither could add finishes to Arsenal’s quick and dominant attacking play.

Theo Walcott thought he had opened the scoring when his effort slipped past Thomas Vorm, but on loan Spurs defender Stephen Caulker denied Walcott, clearing the England International’s effort off the line and away from danger.

Unfortunately for Gunners fans old habits seem to die-hard at the Emirates and it wasn’t long before Arsenal’s tempo dropped and the flowing, crisp play was replaced with poor, wasteful passing and a cluttered, static final third. 

Swansea settled into the game but never really challenged Wojciech Szczesny, Danny Graham’s poke at goal from close range providing the only credible threat to the young Polish keeper’s goal.

As Arsenal’s attacking play became more complacent and Swansea’s back line grew in confidence, it appeared that only an error from the visitors would allow Arsenal to open the scoring.

That error came after 40 minutes when City keeper Thomas Vorm rolled the ball away after collecting a deflected shot. Rather then finding the waiting feet of a Swansea player, Vorm’s throw bounced of the heels of defender Angel Rangel and straight to the feet of Arshavin who his strike, from a tight angle, into the unguarded net.

Neither side were able to rejuvenate their play after the break, and although Swansea saw more of the ball, their increased possession failed to create clear cut chances for the majority of the second half, although Scott Sinclair did skim the top of Szczesny’s crossbar with a well struck free-kick, while Caulker managed to scoop an effort just over the bar late on.

The Gunners could have doubled their lead when Van Persie struck the post with a right foot drive, while Maroune Chamank’s header from 5 yards was directed straight into the grateful hands of Vorm as Arsenal squandered opportunities to seal the victory before the final whistle.

With this win Arsene Weneger hopes to have silenced some of his critics as the Gunners finally have a notch in their win column while Swansea have still failed to score in their first four games of the season.