Sorensen saves Stoke´s day

Stoke boss Tony Pulis sang the praises of goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen on Sunday after his late penalty save helped them to a 1-0 win over Wolves.

Sorensen’s save from Nenad Milijas’ 90th-minute penalty helped Stoke through to the FA Cup round of 16 and Pulis hopes to reward the 34-year-old Dane with a new deal at Britannia Stadium, despite him playing second fiddle to first-choice ‘keeper Asmir Begovic.

The win, courtesy of a Robert Huth header from a Matthew Etherington free-kick, secured Stoke a fifth-round tie at home to Brighton.

“Thomas has been brilliant. We are hoping to sit down and do a deal with Thomas to keep him at the football club,” Pulis said.

“Begovic has been outstanding for us. As a young keeper, he has been outstanding.”

“Thomas has been waiting patiently. He has been terrific today. That is what you want, good competition.”

Pulis hit out at the FA for scheduling the fourth round in a week where there was a full set of midweek Premier League fixtures, claiming such a move disadvantages clubs with smaller squads.

“I’m a bit disappointed at the FA Cup and its placing in the calendar with the smaller clubs not having squads as strong as the top sides,” he said.

“We have got the short straw because we go to Anfield on Wednesday night and then Sunderland on Saturday morning.”

Wolves boss Mick McCarthy rued giving away what he described as a needless free-kick which resulted in Huth’s goal, but praised Stoke’s ability from set-pieces.

“Ultimately we gave away a free-kick, a needless one, and we got punished by Stoke who do it better than anyone with corners, throw ins, free-kicks and we stood up to it most the time but we didn’t on that occasion,” McCarthy said.

“A missed penalty, it doesn’t make me unhappy with the performance.”

“I think the missed penalty is indicative or our performance because it’s a missed opportunity.”

“When we had the chance to break on Stoke it became wide open, end to end, but we didn’t really punish them and get a chance from it where we lost it.”