Confidence returns for Stoke

Stoke manager Tony Pulis was delighted for winger Matthew Etherington after he scored the winner in their 1-0 victory over Norwich on Saturday.

After enduring their first taste of European football this season, Stoke are now starting to rediscover their league form with their lightened fixture load helping them to a second-straight win in the Premier League.

Pulis heaped praise on his side and Etherington after they piled pressure on a Norwich outfit he has a great deal of respect for.

“It was a lot of pressure that we put on at times, but we didn’t have as many opportunities as we would have liked,” Pulis said.

“For Matty (Etherington) to score is good because it gives him a little bit of confidence, he goes a little bit up and down at times, and mostly that is due to his confidence. So scoring today will do him the world of good.”

“I think players, especially forward players, they have good times and they have bad times and you have to ride with it. But Matty is a top, top player, and he showed signs today of getting back to his best.”

The win moves Stoke ahead of Norwich by a point into eighth but Pulis was quick to pay tribute to his counterpart’s work this season.

“I think what Paul (Lambert) has achieved at Norwich is pretty remarkable. To get promoted out of the third tier into the second tier and now into the first tier of English football, and then to have the number of points that they have got so far this season is absolutely fantastic,” he said.

Lambert was pleased with the way his side dealt with Stoke’s aerial threat overall, but was disappointed to have conceded the winner from that avenue with a questionable throw-in.

Etherington’s 72nd-minute winner stemmed from a controversial throw-in, which the referee initially gave to Norwich before his assistant overruled, catching Norwich players out of position.

“I think it was our throw. He’s indicated that, he is actually walking away as if he has given it to us. He actually raises his hand as if to say it’s a Norwich throw, and the linesman has overruled him for some reason,” Lambert said.

“Our lads obviously think it is our throw, we are then out of position and we lose a bad goal, but I just think it was clear for everyone to see it was a Norwich throw-in.”

“It’s frustrating, because I thought the game was not full of chances, it never really got going, there was no fluency, it’s a really hard place to come.”

“You have got to combat that aerial threat, the throw-ins and the corners and I thought the lads coped with that really well, and the throw-in changed the game.”