Josh Laurent’s superb goal helped Stoke City end Stevenage’s FA Cup run and progress to the fifth round.
The League Two side, who knocked out Aston Villa, hit back through Jamie Reid’s equalizer after Jacob Brown had given Stoke an early lead.
But Laurent put the Championship side back in front when he cut in from the right and sent an unstoppable left-footed strike into the far corner.
Louis Becker sealed the win for Stoke with a penalty.
The spot kick was controversially awarded by referee David Webb for what appeared to be a perfectly fair challenge on Brown by Jonathan Tomkinson.
Stoke looked comfortable when Barsant Celina’s third-minute corner was flicked on by Ben Wilmot after an unmarked Brown controlled the ball at the far post and fired home.
They almost doubled their lead before the break when Max Clarke’s header from former Stevenage defender Willmott’s second Selina corner was cleared off the line, and when keeper Taye Ashby-Hammond headed home to deny Will Smallbone. Great save.
Stevenage rallied in the second half and Reid forced a save from keeper Jack Bonham before the visitors appealed in vain for a penalty when the ball hit Laurent’s arm.
The underdogs equalized when Reid, who also scored in the third-round victory at Villa, took advantage of some sluggish Stoke defending.
Wilmot failed to deal with Ashby-Hammond’s goal-kick and then failed to keep the ball from crossing the line after Reid cut inside and lobbed Bonham.
However, Laurent netted emphatically three minutes later and Stevenage’s hopes of another comeback were dashed by a penalty decision.
‘Howard Webb, call me’ – reaction
Stevenage manager Steve Evans told JEE News:
“We don’t get a penalty for handball – his arm was out, it’s a penalty – and then he gives Stoke a penalty and it’s never a penalty. It’s a huge challenge.
“Then he’s watching the replay when we kick-off and is running around telling his players what he did wrong.
“He gets it wrong – referees do things wrong, I do things wrong. We all do things wrong. The players do. But you don’t run around rubbing people’s faces in it when there’s 15 in a cup tie. Minutes left.
“The referee effectively ends the cup tie. We made a few mistakes, but I’m proud of our effort in the FA Cup.
“(Ex-Premier League referee) Howard Webb did a podcast with me. Call me, Howard. Call me and tell me why a referee rushes to tell the players after seeing the screen – is he watching the screen. Will you be watching the game? The game has been kicked. Closed.
“Someone needs to know why the referee is running around telling my players ‘I’ve done something very wrong’.
“The fourth official was right by me and knew it wasn’t a penalty.”
Stoke boss Alex Neil:
“It’s done. They always came and fought for every ball and made it difficult.
“I thought our reaction to the tie was great because that’s when you can doubt yourself, and their fans start getting behind them.
“They had a bit of enthusiasm and belief, but I thought we took that away from them with a great goal from Laurent.
“I thought we deserved to win and we deserved to reach the next round.”
