Stoke 1 - 1 City

• A decent performance, but a seriously good point. We're up to fourth, and we still have one game in hand. It was a strange game - we were under pressure for most of the first hour, before Abdoulaye Faye was sent off. After a spell of a pressure we conceded from a rare Shay Given error, and it looked like we would lose to ten men for the second consecutive season at the Britannia. But a late Gareth Barry goal belatedly brought us level and we hung on for a point.

• It ought to be said, though, that we were lucky with Ryan Shawcross' stoppage time header. He jumped against Shay Given from a Rory Delap long throw and headed home. It was disallowed; Shawcross having allegedly held Given down. It was a very marginal call from the referee. We won't always get this lucky. And it raises serious issues: we conceded two good goals against Stoke from long throws in two games. Only one of them was given - but we shouldn't be in this position.

• Until the sending off we were poor. Stoke were as bold and aggressive as expected. They dominated possession and threw balls into our box. For the most part we defended bravely, Joleon Lescott again proving that he is better than Kolo Touré. But we did concede chances. And we again proved that we can't dominate possession. The Vieira/de Jong/Barry triangle was as slow and damp as it has been in the past. It was not until Faye was sent off that we got in the game.

• From that point we got the space and possession we had been waiting all game for. Johnson on the left, and Shaun Wright-Phillips attacked down both flanks and we finally looked like the better side. But we couldn't make it count and the rarest of Shay Given mistakes led to our going 1-0 behind. Imagine losing to ten men of Stoke in consecutive seasons. Given's one of my favourite players so I'm delighted I'm not now cursing him for causing our defeat. But it shouldn't have happened and it was almost fatal.

• We managed an equaliser, and a found a few half-chances for a winner. It shouldn't have come to this, and we should have lost it in stoppage time. I wanted a brave performance more than anything else. Did we get it? Probably not. We were cautious and timid, again, for too long and required lucky breaks to get level. But it's a point on the road, and one from behind as well. Enough to keep us in a decent positon for now. But enough to generate momentum for good results against Liverpool, Stoke and Chelsea? Probably not, I fear.