Safe-Hands Simo

Stoke City goalkeeper Steve Simonsen has continued his fine season by forcing his way into the top 20 in The Actim Index, the official player ratings system of the Coca-Cola Championship. Although Tony Pulis still seems intent on bringing in another keeper to make Simo fight for his place.

Simonsen earned 18 points in his side’s 1-0 defeat of Ipswich as they bolstered their hopes of automatic promotion, keeping him third in the list of goalkeepers this term, but does not include last Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat at Preston.

Stoke dominate the top 10 in the Index with four players, including the top-ranked midfielder and top-ranked defender in the shape of Liam Lawrence (1st overall) and Ryan Shawcross (4th) respectively.

Tony Pulis has seven of his squad in the current Actim Index top 100.

Analysis of all Championship games is taking place throughout the season and so far the top five Stoke players are:

Player Ranking Position Ranking Index Score

Liam Lawrence 1st 1st Ranked Midfielder 586 points

Ryan Shawcross 4th 1st Ranked Defender 511

Ricardo Fuller 7th 3rd Ranked Striker 466

Leon Cort 8th 2nd Ranked Defender 456

Richard Cresswell 17th 6th Ranked Striker 422

The Actim Index is calculated using a unique mathematical formula that rates each player`s contribution be it goals, shots, passes, dribbles, tackles, crosses, saves, clearances, blocks, interceptions, assists, clean sheets, time on the pitch or number of points gained by the team with marks deducted for red and yellow cards.