FOOTBALL: Stoke fall to cool Christie

LETHAL striker Malcolm Christie's deadly double sank sorry Stoke - but spare a thought for their keeper Neil Cutler.

For so long he was their hero as he denied rampant Derby time and again, but eventually Christie got his just reward with two superb goals in just two minutes.

Even then, no major blame could be attached to Cutler.

Branko Strupar managed to head down a cross from Paul Boertien under pressure and there was Christie to give Cutler no chance from close range.

Then a superb pass from Giorgi Kinkladze set up Christie in space once more and the 23-year-old calmly placed the ball past the advancing Cutler, who was unable to do anything but watch it hit the net again.

Stoke boss Steve Cotterill said: "It was particular hard on Neil. He had a good game and didn't get what he deserved - a clean sheet. The game was just 10 minutes too long for us. A couple of lapses in concentration let them in. We didn't defend well for both the goals."

Cutler may have got off to a dicky start when he was nearly caught out by a curling corner from Boertien. But after that the former Villa trainee played a blinder as he kept out everything the Rams threw at him.

Even when Cutler was beaten by Christie, the woodwork came to Stoke's rescue. Christie - under the eye of Sunderland and Middlesbrough of late - watched in agony as his first half right foot effort hit the underside of the bar, with Cutler then able to grab the ball.

And when Cutler could only palm away a Rob Lee effort, Christie's follow-up hit the woodwork once more.

Cutler had also denied Strupar somehow with a fine one-handed save - and that was on top of other brave saves which kept Stoke in the game for so long.

But then Stoke settled and wonderkid Kris Commons saw a cross-cum shot punched away by keeper Mart Poom before Goodfellow again got into the picture.

Defender Chris Riggott failed to stop Andy Cooke and Goodfellow rounded Poom, but his acutely angled shot went into the side netting. Eventually, Derby's quality and experience certainly showed through, with Stoke displaying lots of vim and verve but little guile or style.

Cotterill was honest enough to face the facts.

He said: "We haven't got Poom, Barton, Riggott, Lee, Christie, Ravanelli or a Kinkladze.

"For 80 minutes we did very well against a team that has players of that quality. We couldn't have worked harder "

MAN OF THE MATCH MALCOLM CHRISTIE

Goals were just reward.

DERBY: Poom 7, Barton 7, Riggott 6, Higginbotham 7, Jackson 6, Murray 6 (Kinkladze 7), Lee 7, Bolder 6, Boertien 7, Strupar 7, CHRISTIE 9 (Evatt 6).

STOKE: Cutler 8, Thomas 7, Handyside 7, Shtaniuk 6, Clarke 6, Commons 6 (Gudjonsson 6), O'Connor 7, Gunnarsson 6, Henry 7, Cooke 6, Goodfellow 7.

MANAGERS: Gregory 8; Cotterill 6.

REFEREE: S Mathieson 7.

Copyright 2002 MGN LTD
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.