Shawcross off-duty at corners

Cape Town - Ryan Shawcross has been relieved of his man-marking duties as Stoke fear the centre back is being targeted by referees.

The Daily Mail report that Stoke City have instructed Ryan Shawcross to steer clear of any "grappling" during corners.

Shawcross conceded a penalty for fouling Wilfred Bony during the usual corner scuffle during his side's victory over Swansea two weeks ago but the strong-tackling defender was put on zonal marking duty during Saturday's EPL clash against Southampton.   

Stoke have now conceded that the decision to relieve Shawcross of his man-marking duties is in fear of their player being targeted by officials.

"It seemed as though Ryan was singled out. It was no doubt it was a penalty in the strict sense of the word because of what Ryan was doing." said Stoke's assistant boss Mark Bowen.

"On Saturday, and it shouldn't happen like this, we tried to pull him out of the spotlight if you like.

"So instead of Ryan marking from a corner, we put him in an area where he could attack the ball in a more zonal area."

Stoke City next face the high-flying West Ham United at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday. The match is scheduled for a 17:00 kick-off.

West Ham are currently fourth on the EPL table (16 points) while Stoke are in 12th position with five fewer points after nine games.