2003–04 Stoke City F.C. season
Introduction The 2003–04 season was Stoke City's 97th season in the Football League and the 37th in the second tier.With Stoke being successful in avoiding relegation manager Tony Pulis could begin making alterations to his squad for the 2003–04 season. A number of ins and outs followed but after a good start Stoke won just five of their first 21 matches and it seemed that another fight against relegation would be required. But after a win against West Ham United in December Stoke went nine matches unbeaten and pulled themselves away from relegation trouble. Their good form continued until the end of the season with Stoke ending a promising season of consolidation in 11th position with 66 points.
Season review ===League===Manager Tony Pulis made a number of alterations to his squad in the summer of 2003 as a number of players which helped Stoke gain promotion and subsequent survival left the club and in came several new players. These included experienced goalkeeper Ed de Goey, defenders Clint Hill and John Halls, midfielders John Eustace and Darel Russell and forwards Carl Asaba and Gifton Noel-Williams whilst the most notable departures was that of James O'Connor and fan favourite Sergei Shtanuk.Stoke began the 2003–04 season well beating Derby County 3–0 on the opening match and then Wimbledon to see Stoke sitting top of the table after two matches. But Stoke's form soon fell away and despite the return of Ade Akinbiyi Stoke won just 5 of their first 21 fixtures which ended with a 3–2 defeat at home to Cardiff City with former fan favorite Peter Thorne scoring a hat trick but such as his popularity with the club he refused to celebrate and earned a standing ovation from the Stoke supporters. With Stoke looking likely to be involved in another scrap against relegation Pulis brought in experienced ''no nonsense'' defender Gerry Taggart and in his first match he helped Stoke claim an unlikely three points away at high-flying West Ham United. This prompted Stoke's revival and in the next match Stoke beat Reading 3–0 with a hat trick from Dutch winger Peter Hoekstra.Stoke remained unbeaten for six more matches until their run was halted by a heavy 6–3 defeat at Crystal Palace. Whilst there was some hope from the fans that Stoke could mount a late push for a play-off spot they failed to keep a consistent run of form going and ended the season in a mid-table position of 11th. It was a promising end to the season with Stoke beating all-ready promoted West Bromwich Albion 4–1 and the feeling around the club was that they could now begin to look for a promotion to the Premier League rather that worry about being relegated to the third tier.===FA Cup===Stoke drew Wimbledon in the third round who had now moved to Milton Keynes and after a bad tempered 1–1 draw at the National Hockey Stadium a free kick from Adam Nowland settled the replay.===League Cup===Stoke had a poor League Cup campaign as they narrowly beat Rochdale and were then knocked out 2–0 by Gillingham.
Final league table
Results ''Stoke's score comes first''===Legend===WinDrawLoss===Pre-Season Friendlies===MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers113 July 2003Newcastle TownANoel-Williams, Goodfellow, Commons, Greenacre215 July 2003Stafford RangersA323 July 2003Germinal BeerschotA426 July 2003WesterloANoel-Williams, Iwelumo529 July 2003Notts CountyAIwelumo61 August 2003Macclesfield TownA74 August 2003RhylAIwelumo, Commons813 August 2003Manchester UnitedH3–121,000Iwelumo, Goodfellow (2)===Football League First Division===MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReport1 9 August 2003 Derby CountyA3–021,517Noel-Williams 15', Greenacre 20', Neal 90' Report2 16 August 2003 WimbledonH2–112,550Asaba 26' (pen), Thomas 90+3' Report3 23 August 2003 WalsallA1–19,033Asaba 33' Report4 26 August 2003 MillwallH0–0 Report5 30 August 2003 Preston North EndA0–1 Report6 6 September 2003 BurnleyH1–214,867Asaba 53' Report7 13 September 2003 Coventry CityA2–413,982Asaba 45', Thomas 78' Report8 16 September 2003 SunderlandH3–115,005Noel-Williams 24', Russell (2) 37', 39' Report9 20 September 2003 Norwich CityH1–110,672Noel-Williams 36' Report10 27 September 2003 West Bromwich AlbionA0–1 Report11 30 September 2003 Rotherham UnitedA0–3 Report12 4 October 2003 Nottingham ForestH2–113,755Thomas 6', Asaba 31' Report13 14 October 2003 Wigan AthleticA1–27,678Noel-Williams 40' Report14 18 October 2003 Ipswich TownA0–1 Report15 25 October 2003 Crewe AlexandraH1–117,569Greenacre 90+1' Report16 1 November 2003 Sheffield UnitedH2–214,217Noel-Williams 4', Akinbiyi 18' Report17 8 November 2003 Cardiff CityA1–315,227Commons 59' Report18 22 November 2003 Bradford CityH1–011,661Eustace 11' Report19 25 November 2003 Crystal PalaceH0–1 Report20 29 November 2003 GillinghamA1–37,888Eustace 77' Report21 6 December 2003 Cardiff CityH2–312,208Eustace 38', Akinbiyi 74' Report22 9 December 2003 West Ham UnitedA1–024,365Richardson 33' Report23 13 December 2003 ReadingH3–011,212Hoekstra (3) 18', 29', 87' (1 pen) Report24 20 December 2003 WatfordA3–113,732Taggart 15', Akinbiyi (2) 55', 72' Report25 26 December 2003 Preston North EndH1–120,126Eustace 90+2' (pen) Report26 28 December 2003 BurnleyA1–012,812Akinbiyi 52' Report27 10 January 2004 Derby CountyH2–116,402Akinbiyi 29', Taggart 53' Report28 17 January 2004 WimbledonA1–03,623Noel-Williams 54' Report29 31 January 2004 WalsallH3–218,035Russell 8', Asaba (2) 37', 56' Report30 7 February 2004 MillwallA1–19,034Clarke 4' Report31 14 February 2004 Crystal PalaceA3–616,715Eustace 6', Clarke 45', Asaba 83' (pen) Report32 21 February 2004 Wigan AthleticH1–114,927Akinbiyi 45' Report33 2 March 2004 Ipswich TownH2–011,435Hoekstra 37' (pen), Akinbiyi 68' Report34 6 March 2004 WatfordH3–113,108Akinbiyi (2) 18', 43', Noel-Williams 20' Report35 13 March 2004 ReadingA0–0 Report36 16 March 2004 SunderlandA1–124,510Svärd 13' Report37 23 March 2004 Crewe AlexandraA0–2 Report38 27 March 2004 Norwich CityA0–1 Report39 3 April 2004 Coventry CityH1–012,855Commons 41' Report40 10 April 2004 Nottingham ForestA0–0 Report41 12 April 2004 Rotherham UnitedH0–2 Report42 17 April 2004 Sheffield UnitedA1–019,372Clarke 45' Report43 24 April 2004 West Ham UnitedH0–2 Report44 1 May 2004 Bradford CityA2–010,147Noel-Williams (2) 2', 46' Report45 4 May 2004 West Bromwich AlbionH4–118,352Russell 45', Commons (2) 62', 73', Noel-Williams 86' Report46 9 May 2004 GillinghamH0–0 Report===FA Cup===RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReportR3 4 January 2004 WimbledonA1–13,609Eustace 13' ReportR3 Replay 13 January 2004 WimbledonH0–1 Report===League Cup===RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReportR119 August 2003 RochdaleH2–14,687Iwelumo 13', Goodfellow 90' ReportR223 September 2003 GillinghamH0–2 Report
Squad statistics No.Pos.NameLeagueFA CupLeague CupTotalDisciplineAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals13px13px1GK Ed de Goey3700010380102DF Wayne Thomas3932010423813DF Clive Clarke41(1)3202045(1)31004MF John Eustace26521203061216DF Clint Hill9(3)000009(3)0107FW Carl Asaba26(11)8201029(11)8718FW Chris Greenacre8(5)21(1)01010(6)2109FW Gifton Noel-Williams40(2)10101042(2)102110FW Ade Akinbiyi23(7)10100(1)024(8)104111MF Peter Hoekstra20(4)41(1)01022(5)41012GK Neil Cutler9(4)0201012(4)01014GK Ben Foster000000000015FW Chris Iwelumo 3(6)00(1)01(1)14(8)11015MF Brynjar Gunnarsson1(2)000001(2)01016DF Marcus Hall34(1)0102037(1)09317MF Darel Russell46420205046018MF Lewis Neal6(13)1101(1)08(14)12019FW Marc Goodfellow0(4)000212(4)11020MF Keith Andrews16000001605021MF Pétur Marteinsson 300000301021MF John Halls34020003606122MF Brian Wilson0(2)0000(1)00(3)00023MF Karl Henry14(6)0001015(6)04024MF Kris Commons14(19)40(1)00(2)014(22)41025DF Gareth Owen1(2)000001(2)00026DF Ryan Hutchinson000000000027FW Laurence Hall000000000028DF Andy Wilkinson1(2)000102(2)00029MF Paul Williams16(3)0001017(3)03030FW Jermaine Palmer0(3)000000(3)00031DF Frazer Richardson610000610032DF Gerry Taggart21200002125033DF Sebastian Svärd9(4)1100010(4)10035DF Richard Johnson3(4)01(1)0004(5)001
References