The first half was - in a word - "SHITE", and we needed something to get us us wound up to make us forget the blood was no longer reaching our feet.
And hearing that Michael Owen was on the Stoke bench was the inspiration we needed.
Someone to shout at!
The little turd cost Newcastle £1.3m a goal during his time on Tyneside, and how can we forget the heartless, "I couldn't give a f***" attitude, he showed in the match that could have saved us from relegation at Villa Park?
But, although officially a Stoke substitute, we never saw sight nor sound of him.
He didn't run up and down the line like the other Stoke subs, and he didn't go out for the half-time warm up that substitutes do.
So where the hell was the little shit hiding?
(* Allegedly he had a horse racing in the Betvictor.com Handicap Hurdle at Chepstow, and he was on his mobile phone.)