'The game was rubbish but we both got what we wanted and that's the most important thing'

STOKE City secured their place in the Championship at the end of a gruelling season thanks to a final day draw with Derby County. Here are the talking points from Pride Park.

- Peter Smith

THE ANTICLIMAX STOKE HAD WANTED

SO FEW Stoke City seasons ever go down to the last day and even if Stoke had come into this fixture in not so critical or brutally demanding a situation as Hull or Luton or Preston, the hypothetical scenarios were all too easy to play out.

Stoke started bright enough and by the time Derby stepped up a gear as the first-half went on, results were going their way to sit a little bit more comfortably.

It was bizarre to be in a stadium with two sets of fans who don’t particularly like each other and have them all cheering on West Bromwich Albion, who they are at least normally united in not liking as well. So well done and thank you to the Baggies.

Well done Bristol City too for fighting back against Preston and Stoke ended a day everyone had been dreading in the same position as they had started.

Mark Robins summed up it up when he said: “The game was rubbish but we ended up both getting what we needed and that was the most important thing.”

Everyone would have taken that at any point over the last few days, weeks and months.

WELL DONE MARK ROBINS

Historians who look back at this season and just flick through the league table as it went along won't do it justice. It's been a slog.