Crouch earns a point for Stoke

Stoke City twice came from behind to hold Wigan Athletic to an enthralling 2-2 draw at the DW Stadium on Saturday.

Potters held Wigan to a 2-2 away draw

Stoke City twice came from behind to hold Wigan Athletic to an enthralling 2-2 draw at the DW Stadium in their Premier League encounter on Saturday. Wigan took the lead after just five minutes when Shaun Maloney scored from the penalty, but Jonathan Walters restored parity for the Potters in the 40th minute also from the spot. Franco Di Santo restored the Latics' one-goal advantage just four minutes into the second half to set up a thrilling contest. However, Wigan had to settle for a point in the end, as Peter Crouch's headed goal from close range on 77 minutes saw Stoke draw their third successive Premier League game.

First-half action

The hosts exerted some early pressure and after James McCarthy had seen his shot strike Robert Huth's hand in the area, referee Martin Atkinson awarded a spot-kick which Maloney comfortably tucked away, sending Asmir Begovic the wrong way. Wigan appealed for another penalty minutes later, with Di Santo appearing to be sandwiched by Ryan Shawcross and Andy Wilkinson, but Atkinson ruled the infringement to be on the part of the Latics player. Roberto Martinez's men kept pressing with crosses into the box and the ball just not quite falling for Arouna Kone, but they were disrupted by an enforced change in the 28th minute as the injured Jean Beausejour was replaced by David Jones. Stoke issued a warning soon after, with Geoff Cameron cracking one wide from distance, and the visitors then made an early substitution of their own, with transfer deadline day signing Charlie Adam coming on for his debut in place of Wilkinson. The Potters were finding some rhythm and after an Adam free-kick had caused a goalmouth scramble which Wigan survived, the Staffordshire outfit drew level. Again it came from a handball in the area, Maynor Figueroa the culprit as Crouch tried to get past him, and Walters stepped up to slot the resulting penalty past Ali Al Habsi. Stoke finished the half strongly with Marc Wilson's volley deflected against the bar, but Wigan began the second period as they had the opening one, netting early on to restore their lead.

Second-half entertainment

A counter-attack move saw Kone find himself through on goal and with red and white shirts advancing he laid the ball off to Di Santo, who fired in. The Potters responded with Michael Kightly drilling in to Al Habsi's arms, but Wigan continued to attack and after Kone had just failed to find the right pass following a run into the box, Emmerson Boyce struck an effort wide. Having weathered the storm, Stoke hit back and Walters met a long ball at the back post but could not keep his shot down. Crouch then provided the equaliser with 14 minutes remaining, leaping to nod in Walters' cross. The momentum was fully with the Potters again and after Al Habsi produced a save to deny substitute Cameron Jerome, he pulled off a superb one to keep the ball out when Adam's free-kick deflected off Gary Caldwell. It was very much end-to-end stuff in the closing stages and the home fans cried out for another penalty as Shawcross tackled Wigan substitute Ryo Miyaichi in the box, but Atkinson rightly waved play on before blowing the full-time whistle to confirm the points were shared.

Wigan Athletic	Team Statistics	Stoke City
2	Goals	2
1	1st Half Goals	1
3	Shots on Target	7
5	Shots off Target	7
5	Blocked Shots	5
2	Corners	1
15	Fouls	12
1	Offsides	4
1	Yellow Cards	2
0	Red Cards	0
84	Passing Success	70.6
12	Tackles	20
91.7	Tackles Success	80
68.3	Possession	31.7
46.5	Territorial Advantage	53.5
539	Total Passes	231
15	Total Crosses	23
147	Lost Balls	133
34	Recoveries	47
73.9	1st Half Poss.	26.1
66.4	2nd Half Poss.	33.6