Stoke miss chances

Stoke had their five game winning run cut short at Deepdale, courtesy of two first half goals from Preston striker, Richard Chaplow and had to suffer the heartache of seeing defender, Leon Cort stretchered off in the second half.

Pulis was able to slot Danny Pugh back into the side to face his former club at the expense of Carl Dickinson who had to make do with a place on the bench, which was devoid of any cover for Steve Simonsen with Marton Fulop’s rapid recall to Sunderland.

Ric Fuller, Ryan Shawcross, Leon Cort and Liam Lawrence all had chances to pull the Potters back into the game, but this was just not Stoke’s night after 2,000 Potters fans had made the trip up the M6 to boost the attendance of only 8,000 home fans.

There was more bad news with Glenn Whelan picking up his tenth yellow card of the season and he will now be suspended for the Burnley and Norwich matches.

Leon Cort’s 68th minute injury is hopefully not too serious after initial fears that he had broken his ankle. The player will still undergo a scan tomorrow but the manager played down the injury after the match. Pulis told the official site: ‘He got a terrible kick in the first half and had to have a few stitches at half time.
‘Then he got another bad challenge on the ankle, we were initially worried he may have broken his ankle but luckily it doesn’t seem so bad now.
‘He will have a scan tomorrow and hopefully it will bear some good news for us.’

Pulis said after the game that the team aren’t being clinical enough in front of goal and are still conceding ‘sloppy goals’.

Whilst this was a great chance to push ahead at the top of the table, it’s by no means the end of the world. But, I have to admit, a defeat is a bit of a shock for fans who have just witnessed five straight wins in a run now of nineteen games in the league with just two defeats.

Preston North End: Lonergan, Davidson, Mawene, Chilvers, Chaplow (Carter 61), Sedgwick, McKenna, Jones, Whaley, Hawley (Mellor 90), Brown
Subs not used: Chris Neal, St. Ledger, Ormerod

Stoke City: Simonsen, Griffin, Cort (Wilkinson 69), Whelan (Gallagher 80), Shawcross, Lawrence, Pugh, Delap, Sidibe (Parkin 69), Cresswell, Fuller
Subs not used: Diao, Dickinson