O’NEILL HAPPY AS STRIKERS REUNITED IN STOKE FRONTLINE

MICHAEL O’neill has hinted that Tyrese Campbell and Steven Fletcher could be set to feature once again on Saturday against Cardiff City.

The pair were both substituted off together in the 63rd minute and replaced by Sam Surridge and the returning Abdallah Sima, six minutes after Romaine Sawyers halved the deficit against Brentford on Wednesday night.

For Fletcher, it was his first start in almost exactly two months since the 3-0 defeat at Fulham, while it was Campbell’s first involvement from the off since damaging knee ligaments last December.

The manager was ‘pleased’ with their showings, despite a ‘difficult’ first half, collectively, and admitted to having ‘one eye’ on their potential involvement at the weekend when substituting them. “It was difficult for the two of them in the first half,” he stated.

“But I thought they did still pose a threat.

“Fletch has a good attempt that the goalkeeper saves, and Ty looked like he had a few moments where maybe he looked like he was the Ty that we remember, where he was running at people.

“There were good moments there. I thought second half, they gave us a real focal point up the top end of the pitch. “Unfortunately, we knew both would probably only be able to play 60 minutes, so it wasn’t ideal to bring them off at that point in time, but, medically, we have the players interests at heart, and, obviously, have one eye on Saturday as well.

“So pleased with the contribution of both players”

The impressive Alfie Doughty was substituted 11 minutes into the second half and O’neill noted that there was also a slight injury element to the decision.

It was a remnant of a first-half tactical change that saw Stoke switch from their starting 3-4-3 formation to the more stacked midfield of a 3-5-2. Whether that is a system that could be redeployed as soon as Saturday against a managerless Cardiff City side remains to be seen.