Stoke City 1-0 Blackburn Rovers: First Premier League Goal For Jonathan Walters Sees Tony Pulis' Side Edge Close Game

Stoke City made it four unbeaten Premier League games in a row after edging an entertaining encounter with Blackburn Rovers courtesy of a Jonathan Walters strike.

Both managers made changes to their sides after 2-1 away victories last weekend. Stoke boss Tony Pulis reshuffled his backline with Abdoulaye Faye replacing the injured Andy Wilkinson, seeing Robert Huth shift to right-back, while Jermaine Pennant recovered from hamstring injury to play on the right side of a midfield four that also saw Rory Delap shift to the middle.

Likewise, Sam Allardyce gave Brett Emerton, whose injury time goal as a substitute earned Rovers victory over Blackpool, a start wide right with Nikola Kalinic the man forced to start from the bench as Mame Biram Diouf partnered namesake El Hadji upfront.

It was the visitors who created the first moment of danger with a looping ball that had Shawcross scrambling to clear before Biram Diouf could nip in for a one-on-one chance.

It didn't take long, however, for the Potters to launch their first attack forward, but first Emerton and then Christopher Samba did well to whip away Stoke set-pieces before Kenwyne Jones launched a stinging left-footed drive that dragged only marginally wide of Paul Robinson's far post.

The home side came closer moments later in bizarre circumstances as a Delap throw from the right fizzed in over the heads of seemingly everyone in the box before smacking against the far post, and from the resultant scramble Jonathan Walters' smart outside of the foot effort drew a fine reaction save from Robinson.

The early mayhem didn't end there as El Hadji Diouf somehow kept the ball in play before delivering a cross that had Thomas Sorensen all at sea. The Dane's punch fell to the feet of Emerton on the edge of the area, but his looping effort was well read by Shawcross, who had smartly raced back to the line to head away.

After a fiery, all-action opening 20 minutes, the tempo dropped somewhat as both defences came to the fore with Phil Jones' booming header blocked a Pennant corner before Robinson made another save from another Delap throw.

It was fast turning into a set-piece duel as Delap and Pedersen looked by far the most dangerous players on the pitch with their dead ball acumen, as the Norwegian saw an in-swinging corner tipped off the line by Sorensen. The flying winger, prone to odd long throw of his own, was the recipient of a crunching Huth tackle that saw the German go in the book.

The atmosphere and the pace ranked up briefly after Gael Givet went into the book for an equally thunderous and over-the-top challenge, before Matthew Etherington twice had half the stadium on its feet in quick succession with a thumping drive and then an acrobatic volley that smashed into the side netting.

Those two strikes were the last of an entertaining first half in which the visitors harrangued the home side whenever they tried to build from the back, and Allardyce, watching from a high vantage point up in the stands, will have been pleased with the tenacity shown by his side. El Hadji Diouf, Pedersen and Emerton in particular all looked capable of creating something, whilst academy product Phil Jones bossed the midfield battle throughout.

Neither manager saw fit to make a change prior to the restart, upon which El Hadji Diouf duly obliged to live up to his pantomine villain reputation by earning himself a yellow and then throwing his arms in the air in frustration.

The home side took the lead just moments later after Jones flicked on a high ball into the path of Etherington, who picked out Walters as the Irishman caught Samba napping and dinked the ball round Robinson who had raced off his line to narrow the angle.

Delap then, remarkably, hit the post from a throw-in for the second time in the game before Etherington forced a smart save from Robinson with a low-struck free-kick.

Allardyce quickly made his first substitution of the game, taking off the booked Diouf for defender Martin Olsson, perhaps sensing that the Senegal man might do more harm than good if left on the field.

The Potters almost added a second soon after as goalscorer Walters turned provider to Etherington, who raced through and hit a low shot that drew another fine stop from Robinson.

Blackburn soon saw far more of the ball in a period that had the home fans frustrated as Stoke sat back and looked to draw their opponents towards them for a counter, but Olsson's pace caused concern whenever he roved down the left and forced Whitehead to drop ever deeper to back up Huth.

Referee Howard Webb turned down a penalty appeal in front of the Boothen End for the home team as Nelsen hooked the ball away from Walters who had worked himself into a similar position from which he scored.

With just under quarter of an hour remaining, Allardyce took off the ineffectual Emerton for Benjani. Pulis followed suit, replacing a winger for a forward, as Pennant came off to be replaced by fans' favourite Ricardo Fuller.

The Jamaican was soon up to his usual tricks after spinning on the ball, running at the backline and hitting a long range effort that bobbled safely wide.

With time running out Pulis swapped Etherington for Marc Wilson, with the former earning a standing ovation after another effective attacking display.

Huth almost added gloss to the scoreline with a stunning volley that flew only narrowly over Robinson's goal and Stoke were able to weather a late Rovers rally.