Stoke fired for final day jitters

IT wasn’t just the warm spring sunshine that brought a sweat to the brows of Stoke players on Saturday. An agonisingly tight promotion race is enough to make even the coolest characters feel hot under the collar, but Rory Delap has no reason to fear a late collapse in the Potteries.

Tony Pulis’s side were five minutes away from achieving a return to the top flight when Hull’s Ian Ashbee headed in a winning goal against Crystal Palace to send the promotion race down to the final game of the season.

Until that point, Richard Cresswell’s 45th-minute goal looked to have earned Stoke their place to play among England’s elite for the first time in 23 years, not to mention £50m-worth of revenue.