Stoke City

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Stoke City boss Mark Robins says the side's devastating 6-0 loss to Leeds United is a "kick in the teeth" after a run of successful games.

Prior to the trip to Elland Road, the Potters had won their past two league games and had not lost in four.

But their good fortunes had run their course against the top side, with Stoke's shaky defensives being put on full display at Elland Road.

"We didn't compete. You can lose against anyone and especially to teams at the top of the league and will be in the Premier League next season but we gave them the freedom of the stadium. We didn't lay a glove on them," Robins told BBC Radio Stoke.

"We made mistakes without trying to do something right. We looked fearful to take part in a game that we looked like we didn't belong in.

"I'm not going to over-react. You don't get too high or too low. I don't have the luxury of dwelling on it, I have to make sure we are back on it on Friday.

"Anyone who thought we were home and dry that is a kick in the teeth.

"The performance wasn't befitting of anyone from any team let alone anyone from my Stoke City team."

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Stoke City boss Mark Robins said his side were good value for their 2-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday.

The Potters moved up to 50 points and have now won three of their past five games.

"We've still got three games to go and we still want to finish the season strongly," he told BBC Radio Stoke.

"I think from minute one to the hundredth minute we deserved the win. I thought we played some really good football, backed by a full house - my ears are still ringing.

"It was a really good day and really well-earned win on the back of a good first goal and a fortuitous second one, although when you need a goal to go in off someone's backside, there you go.

"We worked hard for it and were made to in the second half. They changed shape and personnel and they tried to lift the ball forward and put us under pressure aerially and we dealt with it."

Image source, Rex Features

Mark Robins hopes a capacity crowd can roar Stoke City on towards Championship safety when they host Sheffield Wednesday on Friday (15:00 BST).

The Potters sit four places and five points above the relegation zone with four games remaining after taking eight points from a four-match unbeaten run.

Robins' side are also unbeaten in their past four at home, beating Blackburn and QPR and drawing with Watford and Luton since their last home defeat in February, against Middlesbrough - which is their only loss on home turf since Boxing Day.

"There's some excitement again around how we're playing, the results that we are picking up and the belief that's starting to grow," Robins told BBC Radio Stoke.

"What we've got to do is go and put in a performance that keeps the fans coming back."

"It really is exciting," he added. "The noise level that we have experienced so far has been brilliant, so I'm really looking forward to them getting behind the players and hearing them in full voice and seeing the players reciprocate."

Wednesday have picked up just two points from their past five games, though Robins remains wary of the threat of Danny Rohl's side, who are unbeaten in four away games, earning eight points.

He said: "They'll be set-up to try and counter, to try and hurt us wherever they possibly can. They have got a strong squad and powerful players there and are coached really well."

One more win will get Mark Robins' Stoke City to the psychologically important 50 points barrier, which should mean they are safe from relegation.

The Owls have not won in the five games since back-to-back victories at Plymouth and Norwich but Danny Rohl's side are safely tucked in mid-table and can start thinking a little bit about next season.

The Potters need to improve on their record against Wednesday if they are to move closer to ending talk of going down once and for all.

• Stoke have won just two of their past 13 league games against Sheffield Wednesday (D6 L5) and are winless in three against the Owls (D1 L2).

• Sheffield Wednesday are looking for their first league double over Stoke since the 1952-53 top-flight campaign, having won 2-0 earlier this season.

• Stoke have won two of their past four league games on Good Friday (L2), one more than in their previous 23 such games (D7 L15).

• Sheffield Wednesday are winless in their past four league games on Good Friday (D3 L1), having won each of their previous four between 2002 and 2018.

• Stoke goalkeeper Viktor Johansson has prevented the most goals based on Opta's expected goals model in the Championship this season (15), while Sheffield Wednesday's Pierce Charles has the second-best goals prevented rate (1.47 – min. 360 minutes).

"Personally I think it means you can breathe and relax. Not only is the result in itself colossal - we have a good gap to the relegation zone to the point where it would take a mathematical disaster for us the get relegated."

Stoke fan Ben Rowley sums up the magnitude of the Potters' crucial 1-0 win at relegation-threatened Cardiff City on this week's episode of A Cold Wet Tuesday Night with BBC Radio Stoke's Lucas Yeomans.

Victory took Mark Robins' side five points clear of the bottom three with four games to play.

The pair look ahead to those matches, starting with Good Friday's home game with Sheffield Wednesday - where another win could all but seal their safety.

Mark Elliott
BBC Radio Stoke commentator

Stoke City fans feel a whole lot better about their team's survival prospects after the 1-0 win at fellow strugglers Cardiff, which sent them five points clear of the Bluebirds in the final relegation place in the Championship.

The Potters have hovered above the dotted line for much of the season, always threatening to pull away to safety before being dragged back into the pack, largely due to their own inconsistency.

Since Mark Robins joined at the turn of the year, improvement has come steadily in increments and coincided with the return to fitness of a number of key players.

The past eight games have yielded 12 points, better performances and just two defeats at Coventry and Millwall that probably could have gone another way.

Stoke will be confident they can get a positive result at home to Sheffield Wednesday where a win would take them up to 50 points and almost certainly guarantee a place in the second tier for next season. Even a draw would leave the teams below them with an awful lot to do to overhaul the Potters.

One slight concern is the presence of promotion-chasing Leeds and Sheffield United on the fixture list - two excellent sides with a need for points of their own.

The worst-case scenario for Stoke would see them heading into a final day clash at a Derby side also fighting the drop and needing points to stay up.

That's the kind of drama and tension every fanbase would rather avoid but that victory in South Wales gives Stoke every chance to have it all wrapped up with their supporters' fingernails still very much intact.

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Stoke City defender Ben Wilmot said every game between now and the end of the Championship season will be "nervy" but the Potters are playing well enough to stay up.

The 25-year-old's late deflected effort at relegation rivals Cardiff City, which went down as a Will Fish own goal, helped the Potters to a vital 1-0 victory in the race for survival.

Mark Robins' side moved five points clear of the drop zone following the win in Wales with four games remaining.

"It was obviously going to be a nervy game with the position they're in, all these games are now," Wilmot told BBC Radio Stoke.

"I think it would've been huge either way - win, lose or draw.

"It's in our hands, so we've just got to keep doing what we're doing, keep playing well and the results will come, and we'll be fine in the end."

Wilmot also said it is "nice" to be playing in a settled back four alongside Junior Tchamadeu, Ashley Phillips and Eric Junior Bocat, who have all started the past six games together.

"Me and Ash have got a good connection, I enjoy playing with Eric on my left, and I think Ash enjoys playing with Junior on his right," he added.

"We've been playing for a good number of games together now. I feel like we're improving with each other in every game and I feel nice and solid with the three of them."

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Stoke City boss Mark Robins admits it was "job done" at Cardiff on Saturday - even if they left it late to snatch their winner.

Following the midweek draw with another of the Championship relegation battlers Luton Town, when Stoke themselves got stung, this was a classic response.

And the 85th-minute Will Fish own goal, coming on top of Lewis Baker's hugely deflected strike against Luton, did at least show that the Potters are getting the luck when it matters.

"We got what we needed," Robins told BBC Radio Stoke. "It was a scrappy game at the end of a three-game week again. But the players got themselves together and made sure we didn't concede again late on.

"We made that goal happen. We ended up with what we deserved really.

"What we ended up doing is galvanising ourselves after what happened against us on Tuesday."

Heading into the Easter programme of Sheffield Wednesday at home on Friday and then current table toppers Leeds United at Elland Road on Monday, Stoke have a five-point cushion over the bottom three.

"We're in control of it, so let's remain in control of it," he said. "Let's make sure we keep putting those performances in for our supporters and for ourselves because it is really important.

"It's something that we want to achieve this season without a shadow of a doubt, so let's finish the job off.

"Thankfully, we've taken a big step towards what we need in terms of the total. Whatever's going on, be present in that moment and make sure that we're not thinking of other things that may or may not happen."

Image source, Rex Features

Stoke City boss Mark Robins says he is trying to keep things calm going into Saturday's latest relegation crunch game at Cardiff City.

After being denied three points by an injury-time equaliser from 23rd-placed Luton Town at the Bet365 Stadium, Robins' Potters now take on 22nd-placed Cardiff City.

Cardiff are two points better off than Luton and a home win - coupled with Derby County winning at Portsmouth - would dump Stoke in the bottom three.

But Robins knows that it is down to him to talk positively, back his players and keep the nerves out of his dressing room.

"Unfortunately I've come into a situation when I knew this may be possible and it's proving that way," he said. "But I love the job and this is part of the job.

"I'm just trying to get us over the line this season and then we will look to what we can do in the future so that we don't see this happen anymore.

"There are good players, there really are. They have the talent which they can utilise to help benefit us for the rest of this season and beyond.

"There have been circumstances around this season that I don't want to see again. There have been too many players who have missed too much football for whatever reason. At the end of all this we have to make sure that those things don't happen. But it's the here and now that matters."

After Saturday's trip to South Wales, the Potters host Sheffield Wednesday on Good Friday before two games in five days against two of the top three - away to Leeds United on Easter Monday and a Friday night visit of Sheffield United - then the final-day trip to John Eustace's Derby.

There have probably not been many bigger meetings between Cardiff City and Stoke City.

A victory for the Welsh side could condemn the Potters to a place in the relegation zone, but Stoke also have the chance to put some breathing space between themselves and the bottom three.

• Cardiff are unbeaten across their past nine league games against Stoke (W3 D6), winning this fixture 2-1 at home last season.

• Stoke have failed to win any of their past six away league games against Cardiff (D3 L3) since a 1-0 victory in August 2007.

• Each of Cardiff's past three league games have been draws (1-1 v Sheffield Wednesday, 0-0 v QPR, 2-2 v Preston); the Bluebirds last drew four successive league games in December 2022, a run which included a 2-2 draw with Stoke.

• Stoke have managed to win just one of their past 13 away league matches (D4 L8), a 2-1 victory at Hull in February.

• Stoke's Lewis Baker has scored seven goals in the Championship this season; only in 2021-22 has he netted more in a single league campaign (8). Baker has five goals in his past eight league appearances, as many as his previous 52 beforehand.

"To not be able to take the maximum points, in a game where I think they needed to, is going to be a real confidence killer for them."

Lucas Yeomans is joined by former midfielder David Fox as they discuss Stoke City's disappointing 1-1 draw with fellow strugglers Luton Town and what it means for the relegation fight.

Listen to the full episode and more on the A Cold, Wet Tuesday Night podcast.

Image source, Rex Features

Stoke City boss Mark Robins admits he had a feeling of disbelief at Luton Town's injury-time equaliser at the Bet365 Stadium.

With the hosts looking on course for a third straight home win when Lewis Baker's free-kick was deflected in on 74 minutes, Luton substitute Millenic Alli was left alone at the far post to fire home from a tight angle.

"He should never be able to get any space," Robins told BBC Radio Stoke. "It's a slither of space. He should never be able to get it in.

"I had to look twice, I couldn't believe it was in the back of the net.

"We're disappointed and, at the end of the day, Luton are celebrating as they haven't lost. But we should still have seen them off.

"We'd dealt with everything they've had to throw at us - and they've thrown a lot. We'd scored and we should have got it done.

"They've made the game really difficult. You've got to expect that. And the ball was in the air a lot more, which isn't ideal, but you've got to deal with it and we did that pretty well until the last bit.

"It just flattens everything. I'm really disappointed but, take the emotions out of it, we've got to take the point and make it into a better one at Cardiff on Saturday.

"There's still a long way to go and we now have to be ready to go again."

After Saturday's trip to the Cardiff City Stadium, the Potters host Sheffield Wednesday on Good Friday before two games in the space of five days against two of the top three - away to Leeds United on Easter Monday, a Friday night visit of Sheffield United and then the final-day trip to John Eustace's Derby County.

Luton Town visit Stoke City on Tuesday (19:45 BST) as they look to claw themselves out of the relegation zone.

The Hatters are undefeated across their past four league games, earning a point at home to promotion-chasing Leeds United last time out.

Victory could give them safety, with the two teams ahead of them (Cardiff City and Derby County) just two points in front as well as get them within one point of Stoke.

On the other hand, should the Potters lose and both Cardiff and Derby take all three points at their respective matches, then the Hatters will see their hosts join them in the drop zone.

• Stoke have won seven of their last 10 home league games against Luton (D1 L2), most recently a 2-0 victory in November 2022.

• After their 2-1 win in December, Luton are looking to complete their first league double over Stoke City since 1984-85 in the top-flight under David Pleat.

• Stoke have won both of their last two home league games, last winning three in a row within a single season in September 2021.

• Luton have won both of their last two away league games, more than their first 18 of the season beforehand (W1 D2 L15), and could win three in a row for the first time since January 2023.

• Stoke boss Mark Robins has only won one of his last 10 league meetings with Luton Town (D5 L4), although that was his most recent with Coventry in October this season (3-2).

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Stoke City manager Mark Robins called his side "brave" but said they lacked "detail" to beat Preston North End.

Kaine Kesler-Hayden struck first for the Lilywhites to open the scoring in the first half before Potters midfielder Lewis Baker converted a 75th minute penalty to salvage a point for Stoke at Deepdale.

"I think we were brave," Robins told BBC Radio Stoke. "I thought we were the better team throughout the game. I thought we had the first real opportunity when Milly [Manhoef] went through and took one touch too many.

"If he can get that out from under his feet and finish then I think he scores but I'm not going to criticise the decision making too much although it's the thing that cost us a little bit.

"That's where we fall down a little bit but I think we had the better opportunities."

The Potters dropped down two places in the Championship to 20th and Robins said his side lacked a "quality finish".

"We went behind to a rubbish goal which ended up taking a deflection and trickling into the back of the net," added Robins.

"It's really disappointing to concede like that but knew we were in the game. It looked like we needed that little bit of impetus which we didn't get.

"I wanted a bit more from the wide areas today and that's both full-backs and wide players to work in tandem. That wasn't quite working but we managed to inject a little bit of urgency to get the penalty at the end.

"We kept the pressure on them and kept the ball in their box but we just didn't get that quality finish to go and see the game out."

Stoke City make the trip to Deepdale on Saturday (15:00 BST) as they look to increase the distance between themselves and the relegation zone.

The Potters are only two points above 22nd placed Cardiff City but have won two of their past three league games to sit in 18th place.

They now face a Preston side firmly in the midtable, seven points clear of relegation but 10 away from the play-offs.

Will having more on the line spur Stoke to a win or will North End make good on their hopes to end the season strong?

• The previous league meeting this season between Preston and Stoke ended 0-0 – the last time both games between the teams in the same season were drawn was back in 1928-29.

• Stoke City have won three of their last four away league matches against Preston (D1), including each of the last two.

• Preston have gone 12 home league games without defeat (W4 D8), their best unbeaten run at Deepdale since a run of 15 between December 2014 and August 2015.

• Stoke City have lost their last four away Championship matches – they haven't lost five away league games in a row since losing six consecutively between January and March 2013 in the top-flight.

• Stoke manager Mark Robins is winless in his last 12 league meetings against Preston North End (D4 L8) since beating them 2-0 with Barnsley back in February 2011.