STOKE-ON-TRENT // Sometimes rancorous relationships owe little to local rivalry or footballing history. There are newer grudge matches between clubs whose clashes suddenly can not pass without controversy and enmity.
Such is the state of affairs between Stoke City and Tottenham Hotspur. Red cards have become regular events in recent years but a sense of mutual dislike only really emerged when Charlie Adam, whose habit of injuring Tottenham players has won him few admirers at White Hart Lane, joined Stoke.
Yesterday, Tottenham’s bête noir was both spectator and participant, contriving to get involved in an altercation with Emmanuel Adebayor when ostensibly warming up. The storm, however, surrounded Danny Rose. The man who decided the match divided opinions.
To Tottenham, he capped an excellent, energetic performance with a well-taken winner. To Stoke, Rose should have been sent off. Instead, they were the side depleted when Ryan Shawcross was dismissed for a foul on him.
Having made the breakthrough, he made enemies. He was sinner and sinned against. The Stoke support blamed Rose and Andre Marriner for just their second home defeat in seven months. “One-nil to the referee,” was their verdict on the officials.
Actually, it was one-nil to, and because of, Rose. He ended his four-year wait for a league goal in Spurs colours by converting Emmanuel Adebayor’s cross. If the assumption was that a full-back should be centring for a giant striker to head in, this was a role reversal.
Rose escaped the Stoke defence then. He was caught by Shawcross, bringing the Stoke captain a second caution.
"I like tackling but they are two bookings," Tim Sherwood, the Tottenham manager, said. Stoke manager Mark Hughes disagreed.
“It is clearly a foul, but that is all it is,” he said. “The referee played on initially and then brought it back and deemed it worthy of a yellow card. Whether he had forgotten he had already booked him, which for a senior referee is a bit poor.”
Rose was booed and barracked by a famously noisy crowd. Targeted, he lost his temper. When he barged Geoff Cameron in the chest, he was booked.
“He raises his hands and everyone knows it is a clear straight red,” Hughes said. Sherwood admitted he feared for his full-back.
“My heart was in my mouth,” said Sherwood, who soon substituted him. “He was performing really well. I didn’t want to take him off but I had to defuse the situation. The crowd were really hyped up.”
They were galvanised by the sense of injustice. Perversely, they were better with 10 men than 11. With a full complement of players, their only chance of note was a shot Stephen Ireland curled wide. Depleted, they were determined to salvage a point.
“We put in a fantastic performance in difficult circumstances,” said Hughes, who was less impressed with Marriner, the official who dismissed Arsenal’s Kieran Gibbs rather than his team-mate Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in case of mistaken identity at Stamford Bridge last month. They were riled when Adebayor caught Shawcross with a swinging arm –
“Whether that was deliberate, I’m not sure,” Hughes said – and continued as other decisions went Spurs’ way. “I thought his performance [Marriner’s] was really poor,” the Stoke manager added. “Whether his confidence was shot, he frustrated us on numerous occasions.”
Their irritation increased as an equaliser eluded them. They responded to adversity by removing striker Peter Crouch and showing more mobility and invention in attack. Peter Odemwingie and Steven Nzonzi came close with headers. Marko Arnautovic was twice denied by Hugo Lloris. At the other end, Paulinho squandered a late chance to score a second but Spurs recorded a win that, in other circumstances, would have appeared hugely significant.
With Stoke safe in mid-table and Tottenham unlikely in the extreme to finish in the top four, it may not have mattered much. And yet, in games where there is bad blood, the consequences rarely come into consideration. Hostility overrides everything else.
sports@thenational.ae
