Stoke boss Tony Pulis admitted he thought his team had thrown away their chance of victory against Birmingham before Dean Whitehead's late winner at the Britannia Stadium. The Potters, who had lost their last four Barclays Premier League fixtures going into the game, took a deserved first-half lead through Robert Huth and looked home and dry when Ricardo Fuller's delightful effort made it 2-0 in the 71st minute. But the Blues, as they had on Saturday against West Ham, swiftly erased the two-goal deficit thanks to substitute Keith Fahey and Cameron Jerome to set up a tense finale. In the end, though, it was the hosts who emerged triumphant 3-2 as Whitehead pounced five minutes from time to secure a vital three points - much to the relief of Pulis. Asked if he thought his hopes of a win were gone when Birmingham equalised, the manager said: "Yes - when they got the second goal it was very deflating. "But I thought in the first half, it was as good as we have played, getting the ball wide nice and early, and we caused them lots of problems. The big disappointment was that we weren't coming in at half-time more than one goal up."
Source: PA
Source: PA