Stoke City 1-1 Manchester City: Late Gareth Barry strike spares Citizens' blushes against 10-man Potters

Stoke City extended their unbeaten run to nine matches after holding Manchester City to a 1-1 draw at the Britannia Stadium.

The Potters played much of the second half with 10 men after Abdoulaye Faye saw red for hauling down Emmanuel Adebayor before Glenn Whelan’s strike beat Shay Given in the City goal but Gareth Barry pounced late on to move the Champions League hopefuls back into the top four.

There was controversy in the final minute of added time when Ryan Shawcross’ header was ruled out for an apparent foul on Shay Given but Alan Wiley saw an infringement which will be sure to frustrate boss Tony Pulis.

Stoke and Manchester City played out a 1-1 draw at the City of Manchester Stadium in the FA Cup on Saturday and the Potters made four changes from that game. The most notable of those changes being Matthew Etherington, who missed out after picking up a knee injury at the weekend, and he was replaced by Rory Delap.

Abdoulaye Faye and Dean Whitehead also returned to the starting line-up in the place of Andy Wilkinson and Salif Diao, and Liam Lawrence recovered from a knee injury to replace Tuncay Sanli.

Roberto Mancini made five changes from Saturday’s clash at Eastlands with Micah Richards and Javier Garrido both returning in defence, which meant Pablo Zabaleta and Wayne Bridge had to settle for places on the bench.

Shaun Wright-Phillips, Stephen Ireland and Martin Petrov all dropped to the bench with Patrick Vieira, Adam Johnson and Roque Santa Cruz their replacements. Craig Bellamy was ruled out with a knee injury, while Carlos Tevez was again missing as his wife is due to give birth.

The first Delap long-throw came after just three minutes and the looping throw was poorly defended by City but Huth could not make decent contact with the ball and his header flew wide.

Stoke should have taken the lead when City again failed to clear from a Lawrence free-kick and the ball fell kindly for Sidibe eight yards out from goal but the Mali international did not make a good connection with the ball and fired straight at Given.

Vieira made his first impact in the game seven minutes in which earned him boos from the Stoke fans throughout the game. After Whelan snapped at the heels of the veteran, he appeared to kick out at the Irishman but escaped without a booking.

Delap had a chance after escaping Richards to cut inside from the left wing and the long-throw expert’s right-footed curling effort took an awkward bounce in the area before Given safely claimed the ball.

The Potters almost opened the scoring through Faye when Lawrence’s corner was met with a bullet header from the defender that looked destined to find the back of the net but Lescott superbly deflected the goal-bound effort out for another corner.

Shawcross was next to come close for the home side when he was first to meet the resulting corner from Lawrence after losing his marker but he could only glance his header over from inside the box.

City had their first chance of the game after 25 minutes when Santa Cruz laid the ball off to Barry on the edge of the box but the England man sliced his left-footed shot well wide of the goal.

Despite Roberto Mancini electing to bring all 11 players back for throw-ins, his side struggled to defend them and a Delap long-throw almost brought a goal on the half hour mark. Delap launched the throw into a crowded penalty area and found Huth, who flicked the ball into the path of Lawrence but the Ireland international failed to latch onto the ball at the far post.




Adam Johnson played a promising ball down the right wing for Richards to run onto just before half-time but Stoke captain Faye did well to get across the City right-back and ensure the ball went out for a goal-kick in a rare first half attack for the visitors.

Referee Alan Wiley was forced into making his first big decision of the game minutes into the second half when Faye pulled down Adebayor 40 yards out from goal when the City striker looked as though he would have been one-on-one with Sorensen. The referee, who missed the incident and had to consult with his linesman, opted to give the Stoke captain a straight red card for a professional foul.

Both manager’s made changes on the hour mark after Mancini brought on Wright-Phillips for Garrido with Barry moving to left-back, while Pulis looked to add more strength to his side after the sending off of Faye, with Diao replacing Lawrence.

Wright-Phillips came into the game straight away, jinking past half-time substitute Collins before cutting the ball back to Adebayor, but the Togo international rushed his shot and fired the ball over the bar.

There was an embarrassing moment for Richards midway through the second half when the City right-back dived under the challenge of Huth in an attempt to win a penalty but Alan Wiley waved play on.

Stoke continued to put pressure on their opponents, despite Faye’s sending off, and they took the lead when Adam Johnson failed to clear Delap’s left-wing cross and the ball fell to Whelan on the edge of the box whose right-footed shot was pushed into the corner of the net by the usually unflappable Given.

City started to come back into the game after going a goal down and with five minutes left to go, Adebayor’s flick-on found Barry in the area, who pounced on the rebound of his initial shot which clipped the post to turn the ball in from close range.

Referee Alan Wiley caused controversy in the 95th minute when he ruled out Shawcross’ header after a Delap long-throw for an apparent foul on Given which is sure to infuriate Stoke boss Pulis.