Sheron leads a Stoke revival

Mike Sheron struck a late double as Stoke City came from two goals down to claim a thrilling victory at the Victoria Ground yesterday. Sheron's exploits lifted Stoke from 11th to fourth in the First Division.

Huddersfield Town took the lead with a bizarre seventh-minute goal when Marcus Stewart's cross was headed into his own net in style by City's Nigel Worthington. Stoke then applied relentless pressure with on-loan Graham Kavanagh having two fine strikes stopped on the line. Town then suffered a 12th- minute blow when the defender Lee Sinnott was knocked unconscious in a collision with his own full-back Steve Jenkins and had to be replaced by Simon Collins.

Their spirits were lifted in the 36th minute when, completely against the run of play, Stewart increased their lead with a shot which crept in off a post. Stoke continued to bombard the visitors' goal and were rewarded four minutes from the break when John Gayle forced home Ray Wallace's cross at the end of a four-man move.

Stoke continued to swarm forward after the break and the long-overdue equaliser arrived in the 77th minute when Sheron headed in Gerry McMahon's cross. Sheron then struck his eighth of the season and Stoke's 85th-minute winner after Wallace's piledriver had come back off a post.

Stoke's Sunday strike leaves them five points behind the leaders Bolton Wanderers, who had a double from Nathan Blake - taking his tally for the season to eight - helping out in Saturday's 4-2 win at Bradford City, who are now firmly entrenched in the relegation zone.

Barnsley remain hot on Bolton's heels, Neil Redfearn's penalty enough to take all three points at bottom of the pile Oldham, while a spectacular strike from Ian Crook gave Norwich all three points at Portsmouth.

Goals: Worthington (7og) 0-1; Stewart (36) 0-2; Gayle (41) 1-2; Sheron (77) 2-2; (85) 3-2.

Stoke City: Muggleton; Pickering, Worthington, Sigurdsson, Dreyer, Devlin (Keen, 74), McMahon, Wallace, Gayle, Sheron, Kavanagh. Substitutes not used: Macari, Da Costa.

Huddersfield Town: Francis; Jenkins, Cowan, Bullock, Sinnott (Collins, 12), Gray, Makel (Edwards, 64), Burnett, Stewart, Payton, Lawson (Reid, 45). Referee: C Wilkes (Gloucester).

Booked: Huddersfield Town: Jenkins, Reid.

Man of the match: Sheron.

Attendance: 9,147.