POTTERS READY TO CRAFT PUSH FOR PROMOTION

McClean ‘hitting his stride’ for O’Neill’s outfit

- John Wragg

JUST under a year after arriving at Stoke City and saving them from relegation, manager Michael O’Neill is now plotting a raid on Championship promotion.

This win, as grim as it was, takes the Potters to the fringes of the top six.

There’s big games ahead at Watford on Wednesday and Reading next Saturday but, get something out of them, and the Potters are in business.

O’Neill admitted that he needed a good reaction to defeat at Swansea City in midweek – only Stoke’s second of the season – and he got it.

The game wasn’t pretty and the winning goal from James McClean was a bit ugly, but they all count and Stoke are piling up the points now.

But Stoke are going to have to be a lot better than this in their next two, that’s for sure.

O’Neill knows that but, at last, there is a bit of stability in what the Potters are doing and a plan to their football.

McClean isn’t always a popular figure, but he was the one who got the job done.