STOKE CITY 2 (Page 19, Thorley 59)
ARSENAL 2 (Wilshere 24, 76, Randall sent off 68)
An extremely youthful City second string picked up a superb point against Arsenal in an entertaining affair at the Britannia Stadium last night.
Goals from Ashley Page and Tom Thorley put the Potters in the driving seat twice, however, on both occasions protégé Luke Wilshere, who has scored in the Champions League, pegged them back.
The Potters though continued to look for a winner, and after the visitors were reduced to ten men following a reckless challenge from Mark Randall, they thought they nicked it right at the death only for Marc Grocott to see his effort bounce back off the post before being scrambled away from danger.
With the first team currently away on a training camp in Dubai, Youth Team manager Adrian Pennock was forced to name an inexperienced side, with only Demar Phillips having any prior first team experience, but that didn't stop the young reserve side giving it a right go.
"They were absolutely fantastic tonight, and I am extremely proud of them," Pennock told stokecityfc.com.
"People were talking about losing six or seven before the game, and I think that is disrespectful to my lads because they are a good set of players.
"We put in a performance which many people didn't expect, but they are capable of playing like that.
"At their age it is just difficult to maintain that kind of level every week, but there is so much promise within the team.
"We looked dangerous all the time, especially on counter attacks and that pleased me because we have done a lot of work on that and on shape over the past month."
CITY: St. Louis-Hamilton; Cohen, Page, McDonald, Vauls; J. Phillips, Connor, Grocott (C), Urwin; Thorley, D. Phillips. Subs: Harrison, Moult, Brunt, Diao-Jiminez, Nicholls.
ARSENAL: Mannone; Coquelin (Eastmond 58), Nordtviet, Bartley, Cruise; Lansbury (Fonte 53), Randall (c) (Sent Off 68), Merida, Wilshere; Bischoff, Eduardo. Subs: Emmanuel-Thomas, Sunu, Frimpong.
