Pulis Proud Of His Players

Last updated : 22 March 2012 By Wes Handerley

But when you look at the way the side played and defended, it was more than a little disappointing to come away with just the one point, especially when Spurs leveled the game in the third minute of injury time.

But that’s what you get when you take off strikers to shore up the midfield and defence and wait for the desperate onslaught from the home side.

Had Tony left the two strikers on the field and got the ball into their half to play about with, City would have won this game, but sitting back is just asking for the inevitable to happen, and last night it happened.

But on the whole, a point is not to be sniffed at and many Stokies would have taken a point if it had been offered before the kick-off.

Cameron Jerome was the man who gave Stoke fans hope of securing a first ever double against Tottenham, but that dream ended in the 93rd minute thanks to a great cross by chimp features and a good header from Rafael Van der Vaart.

As for Pulis, he was happy enough. He said there was no faulting the way Stoke played or the effort that they put in, he was also happy to take a point from the game that lifted Stoke back up the table to 11th.

He told Sky Sports: "Spurs are a top, top team and we defended at times very, very well tonight. But with a couple of minutes to go, you think that the gods are with you and you're going to get the result.

"We were really concerned about how the weekend game would have on us, but to put in a performance like they did today was very, very good."

When asked how pleased he was with Potters' goalscorer Jerome, who played most of the game down the right-hand side, he added: "Matty was out injured, so we asked Cammy to do that job tonight and he did smashing.

"But, like I said, we created chances and I thought it was a good open entertaining game and we're just disappointed not to have picked up the three points.”