RYAN IS MY SHAW THING
Lambert’s tribute to ‘heroic’ skipper for playing after death of his father
STOKE boss Paul Lambert has hailed heroic captain Ryan Shawcross for playing on in his side’s Premier League survival fight despite the death of his dad.
The centre-back starred in Monday’s 1-1 draw at West Ham just a day after losing his father.
And he will lead the Potters against Burnley with Lambert admitting they need three wins from four games to stay up.
Lambert (below) said: “I found out the day before the West Ham game that something catastrophic had happened and his performance on Monday night e pitomi sed what this club is built on.
“I said to him after the game that his mum and dad would’ve been proud of him for what he did there. It’s an emotional thing – you’re never quite sure what to say to people when they lose a parent.
“But I think his performance was colossal. He wanted to play in the game, we had one or two little chats the night before.
“He showed what this club is, what it should be and what it should get back to.
“And Ryan playing the way he did I thought was absolutely brilliant. This club was built on people like that. I thought he was outstanding.
“I said, ‘Look, if you want to go home, you decide’. That would’ve been no problem.
“There were two ways of looking at it – one, the emotion gets to him, or two, play him and it takes his mind off it for a spell.
“It probably caught up with him a day later or so but for someone to go through that and play like he did was unbelievable.”
Lambert’s side host Burnley tomorrow looking to narrow the five-point gap to the Premier League safety line.
And the Scot added: “We have got to win three out of four games regardless who they come against.
“We have to do everything we can to win. The lads know that and everybody else knows it as well.”