Serious questions if Stoke are to launch a realistic promotion bid

STOKE City returned from Bramall Lane with their tail between their legs after being 'bullied' by Sheffield United.

- BRIAN DICK

Three goals in the first half and one in the second saw the Potters hammered 4-0 by the Championship's third most inform team. By contrast, Stoke are having a wobble and were never really in this match.SHAMBOLIC DEFENDING

Going into the match, Robins was mindful of the fact he had two players, Ashley Phillips and Sorba Thomas, one booking away from a one-game ban - and missing Wednesdays trip to Ipswich Town. With half an eye on that fixture, he decided to take Phillips out of the firing line and bring Ben Wilmot back into the side.

In recent games, the Tottenham defender has been collecting yellows like he is preparing for a trading card convention and protecting him from himself/the referee/the opposition (*delete as appropriate) had some logic.

However, Stoke's defending, especially at set-pieces, was so shambolic in the first half that Robins admitted he had to do something at the interval. On went Phillips, off came Tomas Rigo and into midfield went the slightly chaotic Bosun Lawal. To be fair to the 20-year-old, he did pretty well, and he wasn't helped out by the fact that with 14 minutes to go, Tatsuki Seko decided to chase the ball and not Andre Brooks into the penalty area.

Phillips instinctively reached out to block the winger, down he went, out came Steve Martin's finger, which pointed to the penalty spot, closely followed by the caution that denies Phillips an evening at Portman Road.