Stoke’s Pulis marks 300th game with win

Stoke City manager Tony Pulis celebrated his 300th match in charge by watching his side beat Blackburn Rovers 3-0 on Saturday.

The win extends Stoke’s unbeaten run to four games and they leapfrog Blackburn to go 11th in the Premier League.

Rovers had plenty of chances but they could not find a way past Stoke’s Danish stopper Thomas Sorensen, who kept his place despite the arrival of Asmir Begovic from Portsmouth last week.

Stoke left-back Danny Higginbotham opened the scoring after nine minutes when he pounced on a botched clearance by Blackburn’s Steven Nzonzi to volley past Paul Robinson.

Blackburn should have equalised in the 21st minute when Morten Gamst Pedersen whipped in a tantalising cross only for Franco Di Santo to head over from six yards.

The Norwegian international was at the centre of most of Blackburn’s best moves but despite their relentless pressure, Sam Allardyce’s side could not break down a resilient Stoke defence that is yet to concede a first-half goal this year.

The Potters snatched a second goal just before half-time when Malian striker Mamady Sidibe nodded in a Matthew Etherington cross at the far post.

Blackburn’s frustration boiled over in the second half when defender Christopher Samba was sent off in the 59th minute for a second bookable offence after pulling back Ricardo Fuller.

Stoke made the most of the extra man and Higginbotham could have scored a second in the 61st minute when he had a chance cleared off the line

But Etherington made it 3-0 just six minutes later, working a neat passing move with Liam Lawrence to score his fifth goal of the season from 10 yards.

Stoke defended deep for the last twenty minutes and Blackburn rarely looked like threatening Sorensen.

The defeat ends Blackburn’s three-match unbeaten run.