Stoke freeze out Fulham

Faye celebrates his goal

Man of the match: Matthew Etherington was at the heart of everything that was good about Stoke's attacking play.

Goal of the match: Clint Dempsey's superb volley provided Fulham with late hope and showed why he should have started.

Effort of the match: Ricardo Fuller was a threat as soon as he joined the match and nearly scored at the end of the first half with a driven effort.

Save of the match: Mark Schwarzer stayed strong to knock away a powerful effort from Ricardo Fuller.

Talking point: Could Bobby Zamora's shoulder injury hit Fulham's chances this season?

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Stoke survived a fightback from Fulham to move into 10th spot in the table with a thrilling 3-2 win at a snowy Britannia Stadium.

The home team raced into a 3-0 first half lead thanks to goals from Tuncay Sanli, Abdoulaye Faye and Mamady Sidibe.

Fulham improved in the second half with Damien Duff pulling a goal back just past the hour mark.

Clint Dempsey set up a tense finale with a superb effort from outside the box five minutes from time, but Stoke held on for the win.

The win was the Potters' first in the league since 22nd November, while Fulham have now gone nine away matches without victory.

It was also the first time Stoke had scored three in the Premier League since August 23, 2008 - their second game back in the top flight.

There was certainly nothing in their current form to suggest they were due a few as the team had failed to score in five of their last six league matches and prior to kick-off had registered just 15 goals in 19 matches.

If losing goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen in the warm-up with a recurrence of a finger injury sustained in Saturday's FA Cup tie against York caused any disruption to the home side it did not show.

In only the second minute Matt Etherington had the ball in the net but was at least two yards offside when Sidibe released the pass.

Faye's foul on Bobby Zamora gave Danny Murphy a 28-yard free-kick which he hit low, sending stand-in goalkeeper Steve Simonsen the wrong way only for it to roll just past the post.

The Fulham captain was then robbed of possession by Tuncay 10 yards inside his own half and it was to prove costly as the Turkey international ran into the area to force a corner.

Opener

Sidibe almost doubled the lead four minutes later after some neat control and a shot on the turn from Danny Higginbotham's left-wing cross but his effort was too close to the goalkeeper.

Fulham came close to an equaliser when Gera's effort went just wide from Duff's corner but Konchesky's needless obstruction on Liam Lawrence as the pair chased a ball to the byline on the right gave Etherington another chance to whip in a dangerous cross and once again he delivered perfectly.

The ball dipped over the crowd in the centre of the penalty area and dropped to the far post where Faye slid in to score in the 34th minute.

Three minutes later Stoke were 3-0 up after a flowing move down their left when Tuncay and Etherington combined for the latter to cross to Danny Higginbotham in the penalty area.

He headed it to the far post where Sidibe smashed in a half-volley for his first goal of the season.

Tuncay limped off just before the interval to be replaced by Ricardo Fuller, who had a header in first half added time scrambled off the line and a close-range shot deflected over by Schwarzer.

Brede Hangeland, who had returned from a groin injury but had not looked comfortable against Sidibe, was replaced by Chris Smalling after the break.

Blow

However, his replacement Dempsey provided the assist for Fulham's goal in the 61st minute when he played the ball across the 18-yard line and Duff hit a left-footed shot which deflected off Ryan Shawcross and past Simonsen.

Stoke's best chance of the second half came in the 74th minute when Fuller cut in from the right but saw his deflected shot off Smalling palmed around the near post by Schwarzer.

Erik Nevland was sent on for Andy Johnson with seven minutes remaining and it was his flick-on which picked out Dempsey to smash in a dipping volley from 35 yards in the 85th minute.

The closing stages were frantic but Stoke just held on.