Jonathan Walters's goal is all that separates Stoke City and Bournemouth at half time of a Premier League clash at the Britannia Stadium otherwise marked only by a worrying-looking injury to Cherries striker Callum Wilson.
The game started at a good pace, but the flow was disrupted after just eight minutes when Bournemouth's top scorer Wilson went down under an innocuous challenge from Philipp Wollscheid, and though the striker attempted to play on he had to be stretchered from the field minutes later with what looked like a serious knee injury.
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Bojan finally tested Artur Boruc with a near-post effort which the goalkeeper held comfortably as Stoke tried to step up the tempo and Glenn Whelan's stinging effort had to be turned away by the goalkeeper.
The Potters did find a breakthrough 13 minutes before the half-time whistle thanks to good work from Marko Arnautovic, who beat his marker to reach the byline before providing Walters with a tap-in for his third goal of the season.
The visitors wasted a golden opportunity to level after 44 minutes when Marc Pugh robbed Glen Johnson and laid the ball off to Lee Tomlin, who turned the ball on to Matt Ritchie, but the midfielder's effort was somehow cleared off the line by Erik Pieters.
With nearly 10 minutes of injury time played as a result of Wilson's injury, Stoke nearly added a second when Arnautovic led a swift counter-attack from a Cherries corner, but the Austrian could only stab Pieters's cross wide.
Tom Nightingale
