Hartlepool produced the first shock of the FA Cup third round as they dumped Stoke City out at Victoria Park.
League One side dump out Premier League strugglers
Hartlepool produced the first shock of the FA Cup third round as they dumped Premier League Stoke City out at Victoria Park.
The League One side took the lead four minutes after the interval when Michael Nelson climbed highest at the far post to power home a contentious free-kick.
Tony Pulis made a number of changes to his starting XI with his understudies unable to force their way back into the match.
And with 14 minutes remaining Pools secured their progress to round four as substitute David Foley lashed home a superb strike.
The Potters hit the post early on but rarely looked like reversing their run of recent form as the League One outfit grew in confidence.
In the end, the home side, who parted company with manager Danny Wilson last month, won comfortably as stand-in Chris Turner presided over a second giant-killing act this season following the club's Carling Cup victory over West Brom.
Red-faced ref
The early kick-off almost left assistant referee Andy Butler red-faced, with the official just making it in time after labouring under the misapprehension that the game was due to start at 3pm.
Stoke had earlier arrived in the north-east with a depleted squad, self-inflicted in some respects in the case of the suspended Richard Cresswell and Ricardo Fuller, whose three-match ban for slapping skipper Andy Griffin had made for some interesting newspaper headlines over the last few days.
However, with Griffin and Amdy Faye having joined Leon Cort, Amdy Faye and Mamady Sidibe on the injured list, manager Pulis chose also to leave out Abdoulaye Faye, Danny Higginbotham and Danny Pugh.
Hartlepool had their own problems with loan striker Kevin Kyle having returned to Coventry and James Brown out for the season, and their woes increased significantly during a tight first half when full-back Antony Sweeney and frontman Michael Mackay limped off.
But the fact that they got through the opening 45 minutes was due at least in part to the intervention of the woodwork as the visitors were denied the perfect start.
Ibrahimo Sonko, one of seven changes in Pulis' starting line-up, timed his run to perfection to meet Glenn Whelan's second-minute corner, but his glancing header hit the near-post and was eventually cleared.
After that there was little to choose between the two sides with the Potters enjoying the better of what few chances there were, defender Ryan Shawcross heading a 26th-minute Rory Delap long throw wide and Michael Tonge forcing a solid save from goalkeeper Arran Lee-Barrett five minutes later.
The hosts took the lead in controversial circumstances within four minutes of the restart.
Pulis was furious to see full-back Andrew Davies penalised for a foul on Joel Porter, and his mood was not improved by what followed.
Famous
Robson's free-kick was perfectly-weighted for Nelson to climb high at the far post and thump home a downward header which gave Simonsen no chance.
Simonsen's goal came under sustained threat again with 52 minutes gone when Robson drove a cross inches over Ritchie Jones' head and Porter only just failed to connect with Nelson's delivery from the right seconds later.
By the time the Stoke goalkeeper had kept out Ben Clark's 30-yard effort, Pulis had Liam Lawrence and Dave Kitson off the bench, and they soon replaced Seyi Olofinjana and Tom Soares as the visitors sought a way back into the game.
It was the first time Lawrence had played in three months after injuring his ankle when he tripped over his dog at home, although it was the more traditional type of banana skin on the agenda this time around as the home side sensed their chance.
They went close to a second with 25 minutes remaining when Porter looped a header over from skipper Sam Collins' long throw with the visitors struggling to make it out of their own half for any sustained period of time.
The pacy Foley drilled the ball across Simonsen's goal with 73 minutes gone with Stoke committing men to the search for an equaliser, but he was not to be denied.
With 14 minutes remaining, the 5ft 4in winger smashed a 25-yard drive beyond Simonsen to seal a famous win.
Delap and Kitson both went close for the visitors as time ran down, but there was no way back for the Premier League side.
| Team Name |
Hartlepool United |
Stoke City |
| Possession |
51% |
49% |
| Goals |
2 |
0 |
| Shots On Target |
3 |
2 |
| Shots Off Target |
3 |
6 |
| Blocked Shots |
3 |
2 |
| Corners |
2 |
7 |
| Fouls Conceded |
11 |
13 |
| Offsides |
2 |
1 |
| Yellow Cards |
0 |
0 |
| Red Cards |
0 |
0 |
|
