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15 April 2006 Stoke City 1 Southampton 2 An end of season match with nothing to play for saw Stoke open the gates to the clubs fans of the future by running another another kids for a quid day, which helped boost the attendance to 16,501 It must be said many of those parents who dragged their children along will this morning be thinking it was a pound wasted. Whilst Stoke players seemed to have their minds on resolving their Villa rentals in Florida or indeed whether they'd be returning to club after the summer break and if so to what or to whom, Southampton opened brightly. Southampton's first chance fell to Lundekvam after good work from Rasiak , but youngster Andy Wilkinson given another opportunity at first team level saved the day. Unfortunately rather than providing the impetus for an entertaining open ended game it signalled the end of major events for the next 15 minutes or so as the game become an untidy mess. Until on loan Tottenham striker Rasiak caught the Stoke defence napping and was subsequently mauled in the box by Broomes. Rasiak dispatched the resulting penalty to Simonson's right. 7 minutes later with 34 minutes on the clock Southampton and Rasiak, who was the pick of the players on the pitch, made it 2-0 when he headed home an accurate free-kick from Wright and the game was effectively over.
Paul Gallagher salvaged some pride late on but the Pole's quick-fire double
had already done the damage to sink the Potters for the first time in their
last six outings. Fuelled by the goal Stoke finally upped the tempo for the first time in the game as they sought to salvage a point and a little pride , but in truth the effort was too little and too late and Southampton easily held out.
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