Two sent off in Stoke ‘friendly’

Stoke suffered the indignity of having two players sent off during their 2-1 win over the Bahrain national team at their Austrian training camp on Friday evening.

Both Liam Lawrence and Danny Pugh were shown red cards by an incompetent Austrian referee after being shown two yellow cards apiece.

Pugh had earlier been booked after being mistaken for another player and Lawrence saw two yellows within seconds of each other with one, according to the Sentinel, given for ‘speaking out of turn’!

The late dismissals and a 22 man brawl after a minor handbags’ incident between Rory Delap and a Bahrainian player overshadowed the so-called friendly.

Before the match, the Stoke squad were suffering with minor injury niggles, with the result that several players, including new signing Dave Kitson, were not risked and Tony Pulis could only manage three substitutes rather than an entire team change that he has been employing on the Potters’ two earlier friendlies.

But it was a first half goal from Richard Cresswell and a second half clincher from Vincent Pericard that earned the Potters their second pre-season win.

The squad arrive back in Stoke this weekend ahead of Tuesday night’s trip to Notts County (kick-off 7.45pm)