Wolves 1-2 Stoke: Sunday Mirror match report

It was this time two years ago that Tony Pulis established exactly who rules the dressing room at Stoke City.

Wearing only a towel, he came flying out of the showers to confront star striker James Beattie in a row over the players’ Christmas party.

In the fuss that followed, his owner Peter Coates backed him to the hilt – and if anybody thought that day only sorted out things that mattered off the field, then they should have been at Wolves yesterday afternoon.

Pulis pretty much humiliated former England defender Jonathan Woodgate when he dragged him off after just 18 minutes.

The one-time star of Leeds, Newcastle, Real Madrid and Tottenham defender was being torn to bits by Wolves winger Matt Jarvis. He had already been booked and given away a penalty.

So Pulis got out his big hook and got the No. 39 held up in red on the substitute’s board. No argument, no nonsense. Tony’s law had been confirmed.

And from then on a game that was going one way swung back the other to bring a fourth consecutive ­Premier League victory that lifted the Potters – one of only five English clubs left in Europe – into eighth place in the Premier League.

Pulis said: “I don’t know if it was a brilliant substitution or a bad decision to pick him in the first place – you call it as you see it!

“Jonathan had done really well in that position against Spurs with ­Gareth Bale and Aaron ­Lennon.

“But his first challenge was a poor one and, to be ­honest, if he had been sent off for the penalty we couldn’t have ­complained.

“As he came off he said: ‘Great decision, gaffer’. And that’s coming from somebody who’s been at Real Madrid and been a great player.

“It just shows the thing about this football team. We don’t have anybody in the club who feels that they are better than anybody else.

“If they do, then they don’t last very long.”

Wolves had clearly targeted Woodgate after watching him play at right-back against Spurs two weeks ago.

Manager Mick McCarthy switched Jarvis on to the left wing to run at him and the tactic worked.

Booked for a lunging foul, Woodgate was lucky not to get a second ­yellow when he was tempted into a late tackle on the winger who finally looked like he was back to the form that brought him an England cap last season.

And even as Hunt was putting away the penalty, Pulis was getting sub Jermaine Pennant ready

with no thought of the reputation of the player he was about to take off. The team comes first. Stoke were perhaps lucky that Thomas Sorensen saved a Hunt shot a few moments later as they settled down, but the game was already changing.

And it was little surprise when ten minutes after half time Robert Huth drilled home a free kick from the edge of the area, the ball taking a wicked deflection off Kevin Doyle on the end of the defensive wall.

Stoke’s fans take great delight in their side’s reputation for long ball football, and mostly get what they expect.

But the more it went on the more it was the visitors who were passing it, and when the winning goal came it was on the end of a move that had eight crisp passes.

Glenn Whelan won it on the edge of their own penalty area, and some possession play ended with Ryan Shotton switching the ball from right to left.

Matt Etherington swapped passes with Jermaine Pennant, got it back and arrowed a great cross to the back post where Crouch, Stoke’s marquee summer signing, arrived to head his fourth goal in 13 League games - and the 99th League goal of his career.

Wolves huffed and puffed to find an equaliser, but it didn’t come. And Stoke had built a run of four successive top flight wins for the first time in 30 years.

McCarthy said: “I was pleased with our performance.

“The game was not going anywhere until that free-kick when they get a bit of luck with the deflection.”

VERDICT: Ruthless management solved Stoke's early problems and from then on Wolves were always on the back foot.

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THE BIG ISSUE:

Stoke spent £22m in the summer, Wolves £9.5m. Can Mick McCarthy afford NOT to buy big?

The giant building site at one end of Molineux tells the story of why Mick McCarthy had to pick and choose his transfer targets in the summer.

A £16m project to add an extra layer of seats left him treading a delicate path between improving his team at the same time as the club.

Some £5m for Roger Johnson and £4.5m for Jamie O'Hara added quality at both ends of the field but nobody needs to tell him the job is far from finished.

He'll be more worried about extending his squad than the seating, especially in midfield where Wolves struggled to keep a grip on the game for long periods after Stephen Hunt's early penalty gave them the lead.

Defenders get the blame for keeping so few clean sheets, but often it's because they've been under too much pressure when the players further up the field can't keep the ball.