Pulis faith helps wingers put their demons to flight

At the heart, or rather on the wings, of Stoke City's promising season stand two touching stories of personal redemption. So much of the thrust and the imagination of this Stoke side is owed to the Premier League's finest pair of traditional wide-men north of White Hart Lane.

Matthew Etherington and Jermaine Pennant are two master practitioners of the craft on which English football was built. Critics sneer that Tony Pulis's team play football in a way reminiscent of the medieval riots that gave birth to the game, but this season they have been true to more recent traditions, echoing their own Stanley Matthews of the 1930s and 1940s.

This season the pair of them have darted and cut Stoke's way to a stage that even Matthews could not propel them to: the first FA Cup final in the club's history. This is a rousing achievement for the whole unit. It is particularly meaningful, however, for the wingers themselves, who have, thanks to the generosity of Pulis's spirit, rid themselves of some unpleasant demons of their own at the Britannia.

Etherington suffered with a devastating gambling addiction while at West Ham United and spoke after Sunday's 5-0 evisceration of Bolton Wanderers how much he owed to the "unbelievable" Pulis. "He's just put an arm around me, basically, and made me feel wanted," Etherington said. "He tells me before every game how good I am and how good I can be and it makes you believe it yourself. He's a great man-manager and has been fantastic to me personally. I haven't got a bad word to say about him. He's been unbelievable."

This newly won contentment in Etherington's life has allowed his football to flourish beyond any blossoming he achieved at West Ham. "I feel as fit and strong as I've ever been, and I don't think I've ever played this well and consistent," he reflected. "It's down to loads of things. The manager, the club, my personal life. Everything is just clicking at the minute and long may it continue."

Pennant has a similar story. His personal troubles have been thoroughly documented elsewhere but at the Britannia Stadium he has found a firmer platform for his abilities than ever before. For someone with the natural gifts of many international wingers, Pennant has not yet become the player he could be. At Stoke, though, he is reaching closer to his possible self than he has done before.

"I am enjoying life in Stoke," Pennant said after the game. "When you are enjoying your life and you are happy, the football tends to look after itself and that is what it is doing at the minute. When you have got a good bunch of lads like we have got at the moment, you cannot ask for much more. When everything is going for you, you are going to play with a smile on your face and that is when you start enjoying your football and getting the best out of you."

It is little surprise that such contentment from Etherington and Pennant should produce such excellence. It was Etherington who scored Stoke's excellent first goal on Sunday. The third came when Pennant stole the ball and raced 40 yards before setting up Kenwyne Jones. The final score was just, such was Stoke's domination. To find an FA Cup semi-final won by a greater margin one has to go back to March 1908, when Newcastle United beat Fulham 6-0 and Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman was Prime Minister.

"I've never played in a better team performance than that," Etherington said of the game. "It was just brilliant. We've got to the final now and need to go on and win it. If we can play like this again then we've got a great chance."

Ryan Shawcross is another beneficiary of Pulis's generous sympathy for his players. He was just as thrilled as Etherington with Saturday's performance. "I can't believe I was involved in a game where so many people played so well," he said. "I don't remember them having any chances, really. We know we'll have to perform well again. We know what's in front of us, it's a massive game. Manchester City are going to be the favourites, we'll be the underdogs, so we'll need to perform like we did against Bolton."