-
Dynamo Kiev 1-1 Stoke City: Jerome, Vukojevic scored
Stoke City battled hard away at Dynamo Kiev in Group E of the Europa League, but a late equaliser from the home side saw it finish 1-1 at the Valeriy Lobanovskiy Stadium, Thursday 15/09/2011.
Tony Pulis deployed his team in a 5-3-2 formation with a solid central defensive three of Matthew Upson, Robert Huth and Ryan Shawcross.
The midfield three proved how defensive Stoke were intending to play as Salif Diao, Glenn Whelan and Wilson Palacios all sat deep, just in front of the back three.
Dynamo Kiev had the attacking talents of Andriy Shevchenko, Andriy Yarmolenko and Artem Milevskiy on show as they set out as a fluid 4-3-3.
It quickly became obvious that Stoke were planning to let Kiev have most of the ball, sit deep and play on the counter-attack and challenge the Ukranians to break them down.
Kiev came close to doing just that nine minutes in when a corner was worked short on the left to Shevchenko who drove in an effort from the angle of the penalty box, but it flew just a few inches wide of the right hand post.
Stoke were offering nothing in attack at all but Kiev were pressing hard and should have taken the lead on 19 minutes as a Goran Popov shot from range was spilled by Thomas Sorensen into the path of Yarmolenko.
The forward was unmarked eight yards out with half the goal to aim at and he slid it harmlessly wide with a really poor effort.
The first half only really produced one more piece of goal mouth action as Stoke held their opponents at bay effectively, but Milevskiy really could have broken the deadlock 34 minutes in.
Danilo Silva broke well down the right and his centre eventually fell to the 26-year-old, but his toe-poked effort from 10 yards was straight at Sorensen.
The referee was in a harsh mood as the first half came to a close, dishing out bookings to all three of Stoke's centre-backs in quick succession, which would make it an uncomfortable second half for the three big men.
The second half started much as the first had left off, but Stoke finally got their counter-attacking game going and took the lead 10 minutes into the second period.
Ryan Shotton was slid in by Jones on the right wing and showed great pace, getting to the bye-line and squaring it to find Cameron Jerome unmarked, six yards out and the debutant made no mistake, taking a touch and rifling it into the roof of the net.
It was completely against the run of play and Kiev got back into their stride almost immediately and should have been level on 60 minutes as Popov found Shevchenko unmarked in the box, but the 34-year-old's header was straight at Sorensen when he should have done better.
Olexandr Aliyev was introduced to the game from the substitutes bench and he quickly showed a penchant for shooting from range, peppering the target whenever he got the ball within 30 yards of goal.
Kiev were exerting relentless pressure on the Stoke back line and Shevchenko came close again as he got on the end of an Aliyev long ball, hitting it first time on the volley but his spectacular effort was over the bar with 20 minutes left.
The impressive Aliyev came closest to converting one of his efforts from distance on 78 minutes as he thrashed a right-footed effort in from 20 yards, it was dipping but did not dip enough as it crashed into the crossbar and behind for a goal -kick.
It did not look like it was going to be Dynamo's day as they continued to waste chances, Shevchenko squandering one of the better ones as he broke into the box with just nine minutes left, everyone was expecting him to finish it himself but he tried to square it and played it straight out for a goal-kick.
It seemed that Stoke were going to have done enough to secure their three points as the clock ticked over to 90 minutes, but then their hearts were broken in injury time.
A deep cross fell to Yarmolenko at the back post and his well-judged ball back across the six-yard box found Ognjen Vukojevic just four yards out and with an open goal he made no mistake.
Kiev won a free-kick in the 94th minute which Aliyev hammered into the wall but a goal there would have been horribly cruel on Stoke and that was the last of the action.
Despite Dynamo's domination, Stoke defended so well throughout they deserved the point they came away with, and although they will be disappointed due to the timing of the goal they conceded, a draw away in Kiev is a very good result.
Phil Haigh / Eurosport
Source: uk.eurosport.yahoo.com
Team Line-up:
Dynamo Kiev: Shovkovski, Danilo Silva, Betao, Popov, Vukojevic, Garmash, Ninkovic, Yussuf, Shevchenko, Yarmolenko, Milevskiy
Stoke City: Sorensen, Huth, Shawcross, Upson, Wilkinson, Shotton, Whelan, Diao, Palacios, Jones, Jerome
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments: