STOKE CITY X1 0
AUSTIN AZTEX 1 (Evans 85)

STOKE CITY'S youngsters put up a brave performance only to go down to a late goal from Gareth Evans in their friendly against sister club Austin Aztex at Nantwich Town's Weaver Stadium on Wednesday evening.

The inexperienced Potters side had to defend for long periods of the match as former Manchester United apprentice Eddie Johnson caused them particular problems throughout an encounter watched by City boss Tony Pulis.

And it was indeed livewire Johnson who set up the 85th minute winner for the Aztecs by flicking the ball across goal for central defender Evans to plant a close range header past City goalkeeper Dave Parton.

On the balance of play, it was no more than Adrian Heath's side deserved, although City could have snatched an equaliser in injury time when full back Zack Foster burst forward to fire over from 12 yards.

After a fairly uneventful first half hour to the friendly match, the arrival of Pulis seemed to spark a lively end to the first half in which Johnson went close to scoring on three occasions for the USL-1 team.

He had a goal disallowed in the 35th minute for a foul in the area, forced Alexander Hedley into a last-ditch clearance at the far post and brought the best out of Parton with a curling shot just before the break

City's best chance came on the half hour from a fine right wing cross delivered by Hedley seemed destined for Louis Moult at the far post only for Miguel Gallardo-Aparico to come off his line to claim well.

The second half followed a similar pattern as Parton made a brave save at the feet of Jean Alexandre, but matchwinner Evans was in the thick of the action before his crucial contribution right at the end.

He was guilty of a bad foul on Louis Moult which in a competitive game would surely have earned him a card, but from the resulting free kick he redeemed himself with a fine block inside the area to keep out Adam Vickers glancing header.

Though the Aztex showed signs of tiring as the second half progressed, they got the all-important goal five minutes from time to ensure they made a winning start to their three-match tour of England.

CITY: Parton; Hedley (Sinclair), Cohen, McDonald, Foster; Urwin, Nicholls (Stockhall), Connor, Lund; Moult, Alexander (Vickers).

AZTEX: Gallardo-Aparico (Noble), Rayman (Diao-Jimenez), Evans, Bernard, Silva (Holmes), Diaz, Johnson, Callaghan (Watson), McMahen (Patterson), Alexandre, Sakuda (Stare).

REFEREE: Steve Rushton.