Building blocks are there for Stoke to drive forward

STOKE City won for the first time in five games to consolidate their place in the top six of the Championship.

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FOCUS: Mark Robins is staying grounded despite Stoke City making a fine start to the Championship season.

The first half goal from Sorba Thomas, combined with an egregious miss from Ryan Longman to prove the edge on the scoreboard.

However, the difference between the two teams was clear for all to see. Stoke controlled long periods and kept a lavishly funded Wrexham side at arm’s length.

Here are our talking points as Mark Robins’ side got back on track...

Robins was keen to reject the suggestion the Championship table might provide any indicator to his team’s prospects - even after 10 games.

While some commentators feel that’s exactly the point at which conclusions can start to be drawn, the Potters boss was in full downplay mode.

Stoke started the day in fifth, Millwall’s win at QPR put them temporarily down to sixth but yesterday's three points elevated them back up to third. Quite the staging post, you might think.

Not Robins: “I'm sure there’s 36 games left,” he said.

“Absolutely not, no, we're just looking at what we've done so far and what we need to do to try and improve it.

“Unless you're going to tell me they've stopped the league now and we're in the playoffs.”