Pulis full of praise for illness-hit Teessiders
TONY Pulis praised his short-handed Middlesbrough side for earning a point against his former club Stoke City after a sickness bug ravaged the squad.
Boro missed the opportunity to go back to the top of the Championship table but claimed a hard-fought point.
Pulis, who spent over a decade at the helm at the Bet365 Stadium, is still unbeaten against his former employers.
And he was impressed by how his players dealt with the absences.
Pulis said: “It hasn’t been good and a couple of players have played today who haven’t been 100 per cent.
“What you’ve seen again is the players give everything for this football club. That’s all you can ask for.
“Everyone has bought into that spirit I want as a manager. They’ve shown it again today and that spirit takes you a long way.
“The conditions were very difficult to start with and both sets of players went about it in the right manner. A little bit of quality and composure in the final third could have won us the match.
“You’re always pleased with a point away from home. I know more than anyone how tough a place this is to come. I actually forgot how windy this place can be!”
Pulis’ Stoke counterpart Gary Rowett has stressed Championship promotion is a marathon and not a sprint.
Last season Rowett was expected to take Derby back to the Premier League, but a post-January slump saw them finish sixth and lose to Fulham in the play-offs.
The big-spending Potters have turned a corner of late and are now just five points shy of the play-off spots in a tight Championship table.
Just one defeat in their last seven fixtures and conceding just twice in their last six – including four clean sheets – has given Rowett the belief his side can mount a serious promotion push.
He said: “I’ve had a few seasons where we’ve been right at the top and we’ve tailed off towards the end.
“In that respect it would be nice to have a season where we start a little bit slower and build that momentum as the season goes on.
“The Championship is a long old season and there’s a lot of points to play for.”