2003–04 Stoke City F.C. season

The 2003–04 season was Stoke City's 97th season in the Football League and the 37th in the second tier.

Stoke City
2003–04 season
ChairmanGunnar Gíslason
ManagerTony Pulis
StadiumBritannia Stadium
Football League First Division11th (66 Points)
FA CupThird Round
League CupSecond Round
Top goalscorerLeague: Ade Akinbiyi
& Gifton Noel-Williams (10)

All: Ade Akinbiyi
& Gifton Noel-Williams (10)
Highest home attendance20,126 vs Preston North End (26 December 2003)
Lowest home attendance10,277 vs Crystal Palace (25 November 2003)
Average home league attendance14,424

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.[1]

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.[1]

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.[1] 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.[1] 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.[1] This prompted Stoke's revival and in the next match Stoke beat Reading 3–0 with a hat trick from Dutch winger Peter Hoekstra.[2]

Stoke remained unbeaten for six more matches until their run was halted by a heavy 6–3 defeat at Crystal Palace.[1] 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.[1] 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.[1]

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.[1]

League Cup

Stoke had a poor League Cup campaign as they narrowly beat Rochdale and were then knocked out 2–0 by Gillingham.[1]

Final league table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion, qualification or relegation
9 Reading 46 20 10 16 55 57 2 70
10 Millwall 46 18 15 13 55 48 +7 69 Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round[lower-alpha 1]
11 Stoke City 46 18 12 16 58 55 +3 66
12 Coventry City 46 17 14 15 67 54 +13 65
13 Cardiff City 46 17 14 15 68 58 +10 65
Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Notes:
  1. Since the FA Cup winners Manchester United qualified for the Champions League, their place in the UEFA Cup went to Millwall, who were the FA Cup runners-up.

Results

Stoke's score comes first

Legend

Win Draw Loss

Pre-Season Friendlies

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
113 July 2003Newcastle TownA4–1Noel-Williams, Goodfellow, Commons, Greenacre
215 July 2003Stafford RangersA0–0
323 July 2003Germinal BeerschotA0–2
426 July 2003WesterloA2–3Noel-Williams, Iwelumo
529 July 2003Notts CountyA1–1Iwelumo
61 August 2003Macclesfield TownA0–1
74 August 2003RhylA2–4Iwelumo, Commons
813 August 2003Manchester UnitedH3–121,000Iwelumo, Goodfellow (2)

Football League First Division

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReport
19 August 2003Derby CountyA3–021,517Noel-Williams 15', Greenacre 20', Neal 90'Report
216 August 2003WimbledonH2–112,550Asaba 26' (pen), Thomas 90+3'Report
323 August 2003WalsallA1–19,033Asaba 33'Report
426 August 2003MillwallH0–013,087Report
530 August 2003Preston North EndA0–112,965Report
66 September 2003BurnleyH1–214,867Asaba 53'Report
713 September 2003Coventry CityA2–413,982Asaba 45', Thomas 78'Report
816 September 2003SunderlandH3–115,005Noel-Williams 24', Russell (2) 37', 39'Report
920 September 2003Norwich CityH1–110,672Noel-Williams 36'Report
1027 September 2003West Bromwich AlbionA0–124,297Report
1130 September 2003Rotherham UnitedA0–35,450Report
124 October 2003Nottingham ForestH2–113,755Thomas 6', Asaba 31'Report
1314 October 2003Wigan AthleticA1–27,678Noel-Williams 40'Report
1418 October 2003Ipswich TownA0–122,122Report
1525 October 2003Crewe AlexandraH1–117,569Greenacre 90+1'Report
161 November 2003Sheffield UnitedH2–214,217Noel-Williams 4', Akinbiyi 18'Report
178 November 2003Cardiff CityA1–315,227Commons 59'Report
1822 November 2003Bradford CityH1–011,661Eustace 11'Report
1925 November 2003Crystal PalaceH0–110,277Report
2029 November 2003GillinghamA1–37,888Eustace 77'Report
216 December 2003Cardiff CityH2–312,208Eustace 38', Akinbiyi 74'Report
229 December 2003West Ham UnitedA1–024,365Richardson 33'Report
2313 December 2003ReadingH3–011,212Hoekstra (3) 18', 29', 87' (1 pen)Report
2420 December 2003WatfordA3–113,732Taggart 15', Akinbiyi (2) 55', 72'Report
2526 December 2003Preston North EndH1–120,126Eustace 90+2' (pen)Report
2628 December 2003BurnleyA1–012,812Akinbiyi 52'Report
2710 January 2004Derby CountyH2–116,402Akinbiyi 29', Taggart 53'Report
2817 January 2004WimbledonA1–03,623Noel-Williams 54'Report
2931 January 2004WalsallH3–218,035Russell 8', Asaba (2) 37', 56'Report
307 February 2004MillwallA1–19,034Clarke 4'Report
3114 February 2004Crystal PalaceA3–616,715Eustace 6', Clarke 45', Asaba 83' (pen)Report
3221 February 2004Wigan AthleticH1–114,927Akinbiyi 45'Report
332 March 2004Ipswich TownH2–011,435Hoekstra 37' (pen), Akinbiyi 68'Report
346 March 2004WatfordH3–113,108Akinbiyi (2) 18', 43', Noel-Williams 20'Report
3513 March 2004ReadingA0–014,132Report
3616 March 2004SunderlandA1–124,510Svärd 13'Report
3723 March 2004Crewe AlexandraA0–210,014Report
3827 March 2004Norwich CityA0–123,565Report
393 April 2004Coventry CityH1–012,855Commons 41'Report
4010 April 2004Nottingham ForestA0–028,758Report
4112 April 2004Rotherham UnitedH0–211,978Report
4217 April 2004Sheffield UnitedA1–019,372Clarke 45'Report
4324 April 2004West Ham UnitedH0–218,227Report
441 May 2004Bradford CityA2–010,147Noel-Williams (2) 2', 46'Report
454 May 2004West Bromwich AlbionH4–118,352Russell 45', Commons (2) 62', 73', Noel-Williams 86'Report
469 May 2004GillinghamH0–019,240Report

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReport
R34 January 2004WimbledonA1–13,609Eustace 13'Report
R3 Replay25 January 2004WimbledonH0–16,463Report

League Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReport
R119 August 2003RochdaleH2–14,687Iwelumo 13', Goodfellow 90'Report
R223 September 2003GillinghamH0–24,607Report

Squad statistics

No. Pos. Name League FA Cup League Cup Total Discipline
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
1GK Ed de Goey 370001038010
2DF Wayne Thomas 393201042381
3DF Clive Clarke 41(1)3202045(1)3100
4MF John Eustace 2652120306121
6DF Clint Hill 9(3)000009(3)010
7FW Carl Asaba 26(11)8201029(11)871
8FW Chris Greenacre 8(5)21(1)01010(6)210
9FW Gifton Noel-Williams 40(2)10101042(2)1021
10FW Ade Akinbiyi 23(7)10100(1)024(8)1041
11MF Peter Hoekstra 20(4)41(1)01022(5)410
12GK Neil Cutler 9(4)0201012(4)010
14GK Ben Foster 0000000000
15FW Chris Iwelumo 3(6)00(1)01(1)14(8)110
15MF Brynjar Gunnarsson 1(2)000001(2)010
16DF Marcus Hall 34(1)0102037(1)093
17MF Darel Russell 464202050460
18MF Lewis Neal 6(13)1101(1)08(14)120
19FW Marc Goodfellow 0(4)000212(4)110
20MF Keith Andrews 160000016050
21MF Pétur Marteinsson 3000003010
21MF John Halls 340200036061
22MF Brian Wilson 0(2)0000(1)00(3)000
23MF Karl Henry 14(6)0001015(6)040
24MF Kris Commons 14(19)40(1)00(2)014(22)410
25DF Gareth Owen 1(2)000001(2)000
26DF Ryan Hutchinson 0000000000
27FW Laurence Hall 0000000000
28DF Andy Wilkinson 1(2)000102(2)000
29MF Paul Williams 16(3)0001017(3)030
30FW Jermaine Palmer 0(3)000000(3)000
31DF Frazer Richardson 6100006100
32DF Gerry Taggart 212000021250
33DF Sebastian Svärd 9(4)1100010(4)100
35DF Richard Johnson 3(4)01(1)0004(5)001

References

  1. "Stoke City season review 2003-04 Stoke recover well to enjoy season of consolidation". The Sentinel. 19 May 2004.
  2. "Stoke 3-0 Reading". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
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