.Nigerian lose first Pre-Season game
IT was birthday blues for Ex-Super Eagles ace, Oaze Odemwjingie after his Stoke City side suffered penalty shoot-out heartbreak against Everton on Wednesday evening in the opening fixture of the 2015 Barclays Asia Trophy.
The two sides were unable to be separated during the initial 90 minutes of the clash in sweltering Singapore, despite both having glorious opportunities to have wrapped the tie up in normal time.
Odemwingie should have fired the Potters into a first half lead when youngster Oliver Shenton neatly picked him out inside the box.
Stephen Ireland also went close, forcing a superb point-blank save from Toffees stopper Tim Howard, before City debutant Jakob Haugaard displayed his undoubted potential with several key saves to keep Everton at bay.
Deep into stoppage time Romelu Lukaku spurned a glorious opportunity to win the game for his side, but he rolled the ball past both Haugaard and the post when he was freed through on goal with just seconds remaining.
Unfortunately, the Potters weren’t to be triumphant from the spot, as Everton claimed a tightly-contest 5-4 shoot-out victory with debutant Marco van Ginkel seeing his effort well saved by Howard.
Roberto Martinez had the luxury of naming a relatively full strength side for the clash with the majority of his players having already gained some game time in last weekend’s win over Swindon Town back in the UK.
For Hughes, however, it was a different story as he opted to leave nine of the ten recent international arrivals on the bench, with the exception of Marko Arnautovic, who has returned to pre-season training in superb condition.
The Austrian maverick was by far the stand-out performer during the opening 45 minutes of the encounter, displaying his talents with moments of absolute genius in the final third of the pitch.
Youngster Oliver Shenton looked far from out of place, despite being just 17-years-old, and in fact it was he who was the architect of the first real opening of the game when he teed up Odemwingie, whose close range effort fizzed wide of the post.
At the other end Phil Jagielka, who would ultimately fire home the decisive penalty later in the evening, headed over after leaping highest to meet Kevin Mirallas’ out-swinging centre.
Geoff Cameron was on hand to make several crucial blocks inside his own penalty area, whilst Jagielka displayed his credentials with a goal-saving challenge to deny Arnautovic who was breathing down on goal after Stephen Ireland had brilliantly picked him out.
Martinez made five of the permitted six changes available to him at the break, whilst Hughes made just the single one, replacing the lively Arnautovic with Scotland international Charlie Adam.
Just seconds after the restart Haugaard was forced into action as Steven Naismith, who had only just been introduced to the action, was fed through on goal, but his ferocious strike was somehow finger-tipped over by the superb Danish stopper.
He was at it again moments later, reacting well to block Gerard Deulofeu’s strike, whilst he displayed tremendous bravery to launch himself at the ball with Lukaku racing towards him as he looked to get on the end of a dangerous centre.
Hughes welcomed the likes of van Ginkel, Marc Wilson and Peter Crouch into the action during the second period as he looked to build up the fitness levels of as many members of his first-team squad as possible.
It was Everton who played on the front foot for the final 20 minutes of the game, but a superb counter-attack almost resulted in Ireland diverting Odemwingie’s superb cross into the back of the net in the 75th minute.
Republic of Ireland international Wilson made two brilliant blocks as the Toffees pressed for a late winner, whilst Cameron possessed an incredible work-ethic throughout the duration of the game, tracking back and superbly handling £28m frontman, Lukaku.
Just as the game looked to be heading to penalties, the Belgian finally found a way through the stubborn and impressive Potters backline, but with just Haugaard to beat was unable to hit the target, dragging a strike wide of the post from 12-yards.
Still it wasn’t to have any major effect on the outcome of the game, as Martinez’s side claimed a narrow victory on penalties, and ended Stoke’s hopes of securing a spot in Saturday’s Barclays Asia Trophy Final.
