'IT'S FINE MARGINS'

Robins says players giving everything but lack 'that clinical last touch'

- Peter Smith

MARK Robins will not read the riot act on Stoke City players he insists are giving everything they've got after falling to a frustrating defeat at Watford.

Stoke went down to a Luca Kjerrumgaard tap-in from a set-piece midway through the second half of a tight match of few chances at Vicarage Road.

It is the fifth time in eight games that Stoke have lost by one goal as they have slipped out of the Championship top six, although they are still only two points out of the playoff places heading into a home double header to end the year.

"I'm disappointed," said Robins, left. "We've come out on the wrong end of a really tight game again, so that's the frustration. What we've got to do is be careful.