GREGORY’S GOAL PUTS POTTERS ON ROAD TO VICTORY
PLUS: PRAISE FOR YOUNG STAR ON DEBUT
MICHAEL O’neill has given a big thumbs up to Harry Souttar on the deck as well as in the air after handing the defender his league debut.
Souttar made his first appearance in the Championship for Stoke City in Saturday’s 1-0 win at 10-man Preston North End, having earned his place thanks to his performances in the Carabao Cup and 18 months on loan at Fleetwood Town.
The 21-year-old has a lot of competition at centre-half, not least from Danny Batth, who he displaced to the bench at Deepdale. Bruno Martins Indi and Nathan Collins, as well as Ryan Shawcross (calf) and Liam Lindsay were not in the squad.
But he furthered his reputation for how he handled Jayden Stockley – and how he was calm in possession.
O’neill said: “He didn’t look out of place at all.
“Harry’s got a lot of attributes. People obviously relate to his size and for him to win everything in the air, but I thought he handled Stockley very well, who I thought committed a lot of fouls in the game that weren’t given.
“I thought Harry handled that well and what he also gives you is the ability to play as well. He can pass the ball. I was delighted with his performance.”
Summer signing Steven Fletcher was also handed a first start as O’neill made five changes from the previous weekend’s starting XI.
One of those, Lee Gregory, rewarded him with the allimportant goal as he pounced on a pass from John Obi Mikel. Preston have said they will appeal against a straight red card shown to Tom Barkhuizen for a challenge on Morgan Fox.
O’neill said: “We have a number of strikers at the club and they all want to play and all probably feel they deserve to play.
“But I thought Lee is sometimes better away from home and he played well in the game against Gillingham on Wednesday so he deserved the chance to start.
“I’m pleased for him to get the goal. He works ever so hard for the team and along with Souttar, I thought he was our best player.”
He added: “We’re pleased with the three points. There are aspects of our performance that we need to improve on. We were wasteful, particularly at times in the second half.
“It’s always difficult when you play against 10 men because towards the end of the game, the opposition commit a lot of bodies forward and you have to deal with long balls into the box.
“I just felt we could have had more control at times, but it’s early in the season and it’s a difficult place to come so we’ll take the three points.”
Stoke now head into a Carabao Cup last 16 tie at Aston Villa on Thursday (7pm) before a Championship home match against Birmingham next Sunday (3pm) to wrap up a hectic opening few weeks of the season before a fortnight off for an international break.
“It was important for us to try to win the game (at Preston) on the back of last week’s result,” said O’neill.
“It gives us four points from three games and we have a home game next week.
“If we can take three points next week it’ll be a good start to the season for us, but we’ve got Aston Villa in the cup on Thursday night as well.
“There are a lot of aspects of our play which need to be better. I still think we need to be more clinical in the final third. We need to take care of the ball better. But it’s still early in the season and I’m pleased with the three points.”