Stoke & Staffordshire

Weather for Stoke-on-Trent

Sport

BBC Sounds: From Stoke & Staffordshire

View more

Latest Updates

  1. A boy with short brown, wavy hair and glasses, and wearing a blue shirt, sits on a chair next to a table outside. Behind him are green plants and steps.

  2. A man with grey hair, wearing a black suit jacket, blue tie and light blue shirt, stands and smiles outside a town hall.

  3. Darren Moore

  4. A drone shot of a housing estate next to fields - to illustrate land that could be used for housing.

  5. Are Stoke back on track?

    Betty Glover
    BBC Final Score reporter

    Sorba Thomas celebratesGetty Images

    Stoke kicked off the season in style — their best start in 27 years — with four wins from five league games in August.

    But the momentum stalled heading into the international break.

    A four-game winless run, including three straight draws, left fans feeling frustrated.

    Then again, that frustration might just be a sign of how far this team has come.

    Defensively, they've looked solid throughout, but a lack of goals had become a growing concern. That's why Saturday's 1-0 win over Wrexham will feel like a relief, even if Sorba Thomas' winner was a bit fortuitous.

    Mark Robins' side controlled large spells of the game, especially after the break, with Wrexham struggling to find any real rhythm.

    Thomas was a standout once again — grabbing his fourth goal of the season and causing constant problems down the left. He's clearly thriving in a Stoke shirt now, with seven goal involvements in nine appearances.

    Robins said he wanted to hit the ground running after the break — and so far, so good.

  6. General view of a red flood sign sitting in water on a road.

  7. A stock image of a ballot box arriving during the count, carried by a person wearing a high-vis vest.

  8. A pheasant with a green and blue feathered head, with red around its eyes and a brown feathered body, looks to the right of the image behind some grass.

  9. Stubborn Stoke boast top-six quality defence

    Mark Elliott
    Stoke City commentator for BBC Radio Stoke

    Stoke City defender Ashley PhillipsGetty Images

    Ashley Phillips is experiencing a second season on loan from Tottenham

    These are the kind of victories that secure a team a top six place come May.

    Wins over Wrexham always require a side to battle and work hard and defend well and so far this season Stoke City have been excellent at all of those things.

    They have the best defensive record in the division over the first 10 games and this game again highlighted the great foundation for success that provides.

    Bosun Lawal is out for a few weeks but Ashley Phillips has stepped in and performed brilliantly. He won countless headers and alongside Ben Wilmot stood up to the physical challenge of Phil Parkinson's side and their giant centre forward Kieffer Moore.

    England Under-21 defender Phillips was the best player on the pitch by a distance.

    Stoke defend well as a team though and few clubs will find them easy to beat this season. They're a top-six side defensively and stubborn, competitive and tenacious enough to turn those qualities into plenty of wins of their own.

    But that brings us back to a familiar conclusion, something that has been inescapable for weeks now.

    Whether they are legitimate contenders for promotion this season will depend on whether or not they can get better in front of goal.

    Sorba Thomas has been magnificent this season but ironically scored with what may have been a cross. He missed a good chance late on as did Million Manhoef when he hit the bar when he should have found the net.

    The win could have been more comfortable than it was, even had Wrexham converted their own best chance when Ryan Longman missed an open goal at 0-0.

    At least the chances are coming. Perhaps someone is about to be on the receiving end of one of those games where everything for Stoke flies in.

  10. EFL Football

  11. National League ground

  12. Sorba Thomas celebrates

  13. A single carriageway road stretches into the distance. There are houses and buildings on either side

  14. A road closed sign sits in the middle of a residential road, with a bouquet of flowers propped up against it. There is a yellow plastic barrier to the left of the sign, and a police car to the right.

  15. Archie Collins scores for Peterbough

  16. A woman and a man are stood in the outside area of a garden centre. There are rows of plants and shrubs of different varieties. The man is bald and wearing sunglasses and a cream puffer coat. The woman is wearing glasses, a black long sleeve top, navy bodywarmer and had dark short hair.

  17. The front entrance of an art shop. There are two large shop front windows on the left, with a yellow-brick pillar in the middle. On the right is the glass front door with The Art Shop over it in white letters.

  18. A composite image of three people - on the left, a man with his mouth open looks to the left, he has grey short hair and wears a blue denim jacket. In the middle, a woman smiles with her mouth open with green balloons around her head. On the right, a man with longish brown hair smiles to the camera while holding a book

  19. A teenage girl with long blonde hair is lying on a grey duvet on a bed and holding a large white dog. She is looking into the camera.

  20. A police mugshot against a plain white background of a young man with dark hair, a thick, dark beard and a silver nose ring.

  21. A mugshot of a woman with long black hair, partly tied back, and wearing a grey top.

  22. The town hall in Burton-upon-Trent - a grand multi-storey building with the entrance in the centre of frame.

  23. Three men staring straight ahead. One has short, dark hair while a second man has short, balding dark hair with a dark beard. The third man has dark hair with some facial hair.

  24. Robins wants to 'hit the ground running' after break

    Stoke City manager Mark Robins says he wants to "hit the ground running" after "a bit of downtime" over the international break.

    The Potters are fifth in the Championship but are winless in four matches after a 1-0 defeat to QPR on 20 September was followed by three consecutive draws.

    "I think it is important for us all to have a bit of downtime, as it is such a long season," Robins told BBC Radio Stoke.

    "It is really intense and the opportunity to take some time is important.

    "We never stop working anyway, you are always looking at clips and bits of games of what has gone and what is coming up next - but it is full on.

    "So, to take a little bit of time out is really important to try and clear your mind and get a fresh look at things when you come back to it."

    Stoke host Wrexham on Saturday when Robins will see some familiar faces in the form of Ben Sheaf and Callum Doyle, both of who played under him during his tenure at Coventry City.

    "Wrexham have got a new team that they put together in the summer," said Robins.

    "It looks like they have made real significant strides again this season. So, they will want to continue that, we want to puncture that a little bit. We are after the three points as much as they are.

    "Hopefully we can hit the ground running again coming back from an international break like we have done previously."

    Listen to the full interview with Robins and more Stoke City content on BBC Sounds.

    BBC Sounds