Hours after signing a new three-year contract with the club, Geoff Cameron logged a full 90 for Stoke City as the Potters ruined Steven Gerrard’s sendoff with a 6-1 trouncing of Liverpool at the Britannia Stadium on the final day of the English Premier League season.
A brace from Mame Biram Diouf opened the scoring before Jonathan Walters, Charlie Adam and Steven N’Zonzi left a haggard Reds side trailing 5-0 at halftime. Stoke even had an answer for Gerrard’s 70th-minute consolation strike, with Peter Crouch heading past Simon Mignolet in the dying moments.
Elsewhere in England, Tim Howard’s Everton fell 1-0 at home to Tottenham Hotspur, as a 24th-minute goal from man-of-the-moment Harry Kane locked up fifth place and a 2015/16 Europa League berth for Spurs.
Even before Kane’s headed winner, Howard had to save a point-blank bid by Erik Lamela and the Toffees were booed into the locker room after an off-color first half. The home side rallied after the break but it wasn’t enough to keep Everton from finishing outside the EPL’s top 10 for the first time since 2006.
Ageless Spurs goalkeeper Brad Friedel had to miss out on the gameday roster in his final professional match due to a shin injury, while DeAndre Yedlin was an unused substitute.
At Villa Park,
Brad Guzan
watched from the bench as Aston Villa gave 22-year-old ‘keeper Jed Steer a runout in a 1-0 home loss to Burnley, who came into the match having already been doomed to relegation to the Championship. It still remains unclear whether manager Tim Sherwood will start Guzan or Shay Given in net for the Villans’ FA Cup final clash with Arsenal at Wembley Stadium next weekend.
In Germany, the season ended in heartbreak for Bobby Wood and Erzgebirge Aue, who were condemned to relegation from the 2.Bundesliga after a 2-2 draw in a must-win game vs. Heidenheim.
Aue controlled much of the play against their mid-table opponents, but the east German club nonetheless found themselves trailing 2-0 with 17 minutes to go and a furious late rally brought them level, but ultimately fell short. Wood started up top and worked for 87 minutes before making way for Mike Könnecke in the desperate final minutes.
Elsewhere in the second tier, Andrew Wooten started and played 85 minutes in SV Sandhausen’s 0-0 draw with Bochum. The former US youth international directed three shots on goal and went particularly close on one particularly impressive run, only to be denied by goalkeeper Michael Esser. Sandhausen finish their campaign in 15th place, three points above the drop zone.
Conor O’Brien went the distance in central midfield for Wiener Neustadt as the Blau und Weiß sweated out a 0-0 road draw with second-place Rapid Wien, keeping alive Neustadt’s hopes of dodging relegation from the Austrian top flight.
Goalkeeper Steffen Hofmann saved a penalty kick and Rapid saw a goal waved off by the referee as O’Brien and his mates defended bravely for most of the game. Wiener Neustadt sit two points back of ninth-place FC Admira Wacker, who lost 2-1 to Sturm Graz on Sunday – and depending on Admira’s result against Scholz Grödig on the same day, O’Brien & Co. could complete an unlikely escape if they defeat SCR Altach at home in their season finale on May 31.
