2000–01 Stoke City F.C. season


The 2000–01 season was Stoke City's 94th season in the Football League and the seventh in the third tier.
Manager Gudjon Thordarson again brought in some of his fellow countrymen as Stoke were looking to gain promotion to the First Division. The close season saw Stoke beat higher placed teams in the form of Birmingham City and Liverpool but a goalless draw with Wycombe Wanderers emphasized that pre-season results mean nothing. Stoke's form was steady if not spectacular but two terrible cup exists, defeat to Nuneaton Borough in the FA Cup and a shocking 8–0 loss at home to Liverpool in the League Cup threatened to derail Stoke's season. But Stoke responded by going 12 matches unbeaten and for the second season running Stoke entered the lottery of the play-offs. Walsall were the opponents and after a 0–0 draw the "Saddlers" proved to be too strong at the Bescot Stadium and won the match 4–2 leaving Stoke facing a fourth season in the third tier.

Season review

League

The Icelandic invasion of Stoke-on-Trent was now in full flow with no less than ten Scandinavian players agreeing to join the club. Amongst them were club record signing Brynjar Gunnarsson, the manager's son Bjarni Guðjónsson, Swedish full-back Mikael Hansson and new forwards Stefán Þórðarson and Ríkharður Daðason although Daðason took until October before he could complete his move from Norwegian football. Stoke went on a pre-season tour of Iceland and then had two impressive results against Birmingham City and Liverpool. Tony Dorigo and Wayne Thomas both joined the side before the season opener at home to Wycombe Wanderers with excitement rife after the good pre-season. But a frustrating 0–0 followed and those it seemed that pre-season results are pretty pointless.
Stoke soon started to get their act together and began to find the back of the net regularly with Peterborough United beaten 3–0 and Oxford United 4–0 and a 3–3 draw away at Reading. The first Potteries derby ended 1–1 but in the next match against Rotherham United on-loan striker Marvin Robinson broke his leg in a nasty collision with the Rotherham goalkeeper. A last minute victory over Millwall was a vital win against a promotion rival and with the arrival of Dadason it seemed that Stoke could continue their push for an automatic position but two truly awful defeats in the FA and League Cup saw the feeling around the club drop and after a 3–1 defeat at home to bottom of the table Luton Town there was a major danger that those results could affect their league form. But City to their credit got their act together and went on a 13 match unbeaten run cementing their place in the play-offs.
But Stoke not making life easy for themselves lost to several lowly placed sides increasing the risk of being caught but three wins at the end of the season saw Stoke finish in 5th position with 77 points and they come up against an impressive Walsall side. The first leg at the Britannia was a tense affair which saw Ben Petty 'sacrifice' himself to prevent a goal for Walsall and the match ended 0–0. The second leg started well enough for Stoke with Graham Kavanagh putting City into the lead but a goalkeeping howler from Gavin Ward gifted the "Saddlers" an equaliser. In a mad 15 minute spell in the second half Walsall scored three without reply and despite Peter Thorne scoring it was too little to late and Stoke would have to try again to gain that promotion out of the third tier.

FA Cup

Stoke were on the receiving end of a cup shock as after a 0–0 draw at home with non-league Nuneaton Borough, the replay was a stereotypical cup upset waiting to happen with heavy rain a muddy pitch and a hostile home crowd. And it all proved too scripted for Stoke as in the last minute Marc McGregor secured a famous win for Nuneaton.

League Cup

Stoke had a decent run to the fourth round after beating York City 5–1, Premier League Charlton Athletic on away goals after a thrilling 5–5 aggregate score and a 3–2 over Barnsley saw Stoke earn a glamour tie against Liverpool. But it quickly turned into a nightmare for Stoke as Liverpool ran riot scoring with every shot they took and ended up with an 8–0 victory, Stoke's worst home defeat.

League Trophy

As holders Stoke were looking to retain the Football League Trophy and they made it to the northern section semi final against local rivals Port Vale after beating Scarborough, Halifax Town and Walsall. The tie was originally scheduled to be played at Vale Park but with several failed attempts to play the match due to a waterlogged pitch the match was moved to the Britannia Stadium. Vale won a dour match 2–1 after extra time and they went on to lift the trophy.

Final league table

Key: P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

Results

Stoke's score comes first

Legend

Pre-Season Friendlies

Football League Second Division

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReport
112 August 2000Wycombe WanderersH0–014,532
219 August 2000Bristol CityA2–112,590Guðjónsson 76', O'Connor 87'
326 August 2000Notts CountyH0–113,041
429 August 2000ReadingA3–310,668Hunter 17', Þórðarson 22', Fenton 75'
59 September 2000Peterborough UnitedH3–013,011Lightbourne 53', Þórðarson 87', Kavanagh 90'
613 September 2000Oxford UnitedH4–09,600Þórðarson 22', Guðjónsson 32', O'Connor 45', Robinson 71'
713 September 2000Port ValeA1–18,948Lightbourne 15'
823 September 2000Rotherham UnitedH1–113,472Thorne 81'
930 September 2000Colchester UnitedA1–03,758Thorne 14'
1014 October 2000Swansea CityA1–26,498Lightbourne 88'
1117 October 2000Cambridge UnitedA1–14,433Thorne 41'
1221 October 2000MillwallH3–213,752Thorne 8', 13', Iwelumo 90'
1324 October 2000WalsallA0–36,996
1428 October 2000BournemouthH2–111,572Guðjónsson 9', O'Connor 13'
154 November 2000WrexhamA2–16,447Thorne 16', Þórðarson 27'
167 November 2000Northampton TownA2–25,475Kavanagh 10', O'Connor 24'
1711 November 2000Oldham AthleticH0–112,503
1825 November 2000Swindon TownA3–04,904Dryden 8', Lightbourne 11', 78'
192 December 2000Luton TownH1–312,389Mohan 35'
2016 December 2000Bristol RoversA3–06,338Thorne 3', 19', 40'
2123 December 2000Wigan AthleticA1–18,957O'Connor 65'
2226 December 2000BuryH2–116,499Daðason 39', Gunnarsson 84'
2330 December 2000Bristol CityH1–014,629Guðjónsson 81'
241 January 2001Notts CountyA2–29,125Guðjónsson 1', Cooke 80'
2513 January 2001ReadingH0–014,154
2617 January 2001BrentfordH1–09,350Daðason 22'
2727 January 2001Wigan AthleticH2–016,859Cooke 18', Thorne 60'
283 February 2001Northampton TownH1–113,235Cooke 59'
2910 February 2001Peterborough UnitedA4–07,568Thorne 2', Guðjónsson 45', Daðason 72', O'Connor 89'
3017 February 2001Port ValeH1–122,133O'Connor 55'
3120 February 2001Oxford UnitedA1–14,856Cooke 69'
3224 February 2001Rotherham UnitedA1–28,211Thorne 53'
333 March 2001Colchester UnitedH3–111,714Thorne 9', 40', Kavanagh 88'
347 March 2001Swansea CityH1–210,091O'Connor 81'
3510 March 2001BrentfordA2–25,518Cooke 17', Daðason 90'
3613 March 2001Wycombe WanderersA1–05,385Kavanagh 11'
3717 March 2001Cambridge UnitedH2–311,939Kavanagh 56',, O'Connor 57'
3827 March 2001BuryA0–14,224
3931 March 2001Bristol RoversH4–112,274Hansson 4', 15', Thorne 71', 86'
403 April 2001MillwallA0–211,639
417 April 2001Luton TownA2–16,456Taylor 30', Kavanagh 40'
4214 April 2001WalsallH0–016,603
4317 April 2001BournemouthA0–15,373
4421 April 2001WrexhamH3–112,687Hardy 6', Gunnarsson 44', 56'
4528 April 2001Oldham AthleticA2–19,359Gunnarsson 73', Daðason 84'
465 May 2001Swindon TownH4–120,591O'Halloran 1', Gunnarsson 12', Cooke 32', Kavanagh 45'

Second Division play-offs

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReport
Semi-final 1st Leg13 May 2001WalsallH0–021,482
Semi-final 2nd Leg16 May 2001WalsallA2–48,346Kavanagh 31', Thorne 87'

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReport
R118 November 2000Nuneaton BoroughH0–08,437
R1 Replay21 November 2000Nuneaton BoroughA0–14,477

League Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReport
R1 1st Leg22 August 2000York CityA5–12,035Heath 10', Connor 47', 59', Iwelumo 70', O'Connor 80'
R1 2nd Leg6 September 2000York CityH0–03,478
R2 1st Leg20 September 2000Charlton AthleticH2–19,388Þórðarson 45', Goodfellow 86'
R2 2nd Leg26 September 2000Charlton AthleticA3–4 10,037O'Connor 36', Gunnarsson 87', Þórðarson 107'
R31 November 2000BarnsleyH3–210,480Guðjónsson 8', 56', Daðason 90'
R429 November 2000LiverpoolH0–827,109

League Trophy

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReport
R16 December 2000ScarboroughH3–12,336Thorne 21', 57', Cooke 25'
R29 January 2001Halifax TownA3–21,917Daðason 31', Guðjónsson 35', 90'
QF7 February 2001WalsallH4–05,624Clarke 3', Goodfellow 59', Petty 67', Þórðarson 81'
SF5 March 2001Port ValeH1–2 11,323Mohan 87'

Squad statistics