Stoke manager Mark Robins urged his players to finish what has been a troubling season on a high after an impressive victory over QPR eased their relegation fears.
The Potters’ problems can be highlighted by the fact that Robins is their third boss of the campaign, with his task since his appointment in January being to keep them in the Sky Bet Championship.
His players took a step towards achieving this – admittedly against an injury-depleted QPR side who are not safe themselves yet and proved to be obliging opponents for most of proceedings at the bet365 Stadium.
But this should take nothing away from Stoke’s much-improved attacking performance which allowed them to move four points clear of the drop zone.
Robins said: “There are seven (games) left now and I want us to go and win as many games as we possibly can, and it’s there for us.
“It’s about building those performances and not resting on laurels, not looking round at anything else and making sure we focus on us.
“We look at our opponent, our next opponent which is Preston, and we want to go and deliver a really good away performance.
“The most I’m proud of today is the fact that they’ve gone out and put out a really good performance.
“That was a solid performance – for about 65 minutes it was really good.
“We got on top in the game early, we gave them headaches all over the place, particularly down our right-hand side but also down the left-hand side and down the middle.
“There was a focus with (Sam) Gallagher and with Bakes, and then behind that we were really aggressive.”
Stoke were ahead after 21 minutes when Million Manhoef’s pass put Junior Tchamadeu in behind and his low ball into the box was finished well by Bae Jun-ho.
The Potters deservedly doubled their lead when Tchamadeu drilled in his first goal for the club from the edge of the area after QPR goalkeeper Paul Nardi had saved from Manhoef.
The points were effectively in the bag after 54 minutes when Manhoef ran onto Lewis Baker’s through ball, rounded Nardi and rolled into an empty net.
QPR belatedly got going and pulled one back in the 78th minute when substitute Yang Min-hyeok found the bottom corner after being allowed to turn just outside the box.
R’s boss Marti Cifuentes said: “We were 70 minutes late into the game today.
“Poor performance and even though we tried to show some pride, I think it was far too late.
“We were struggling with the way we were pressing high, something we have done quite well this season.
“They played through us, which is the main principle – to not let the opposition play through us – and they scored two goals in a similar situation.
“Then in the second half we spoke about having a strong reaction, making sure we could score a goal, get into the game, put pressure, and we concede a third goal that is as poor as the first two.
“I would have made 11 (half-time substitutions) if I could have done it, I was not happy and this is on me.
“I think that some of the players who came from the bench helped us to get a little bit better, but the start was not very high.”
