by Martin Spinks
martin.spinks@thesentinel.co.uk

STOKE City manager Tony Pulis was chasing an experienced centre-half and midfielder on a dramatic day of transfer activity ahead of today’s deadline.

Pulis is desperately trying to bolster his line-up on the final day of business before the transfer window closes until the summer.

Stoke had until 5pm to play their final hand in the transfer market, and Pulis vowed: “We are desperately trying to bring a couple of players in if we can.

“We are hoping there will be a couple of things that will drop for us, but we will only bring in people who will show the commitment our players have shown.”

He still sees the heart of his defence and his midfield as priority areas, but wouldn’t rule out some last-minute trading in his forward line amid reports of Portsmouth showing interest in £5.5m signing Dave Kitson.

Stoke will also be waiting to see if Birmingham follow up their interest in £2m centre-back Ibrahima Sonko after they recently inquired about the Senegal international.

Stoke’s midfield will be minus Rory Delap for their next three games after his 39th minute dismissal during the 1-0 defeat of Manchester City on Saturday.

The decision left Pulis criticising the refereeing of Martin Atkinson immediately preceding the red-card offence.

Delap was sent packing after fouling Shaun Wright-Phillips and kicking the ball against him, but only after the England winger had escaped punishment for a rash challenge on Matthew Etherington seconds earlier.

“Rory reacted and I cannot condone what he did,” said Pulis. “But the play should never have got that far because the referee should have blown for the Wright-Phillips challenge.

“If the ref handles it in the right way, it doesn’t even get to that situation. I shall be having a word because we don’t get the decisions we deserve at times and this is the case again. It’s an injustice and not right.”

Pulis dedicated Saturday’s gallant victory to players and fans alike after seeing a first win in 12 attempts hoist Stoke out of the bottom three.

“It was a resilient performance,” he enthused. “It wasn’t just the 10 players, but the 28,000 people in the stadium. Every tackle and every pass we made was roared on by our fans, who were absolutely magnificent.

“I don’t care what people say, nobody else has got that up and down the country. The players deserve the three points, but so do the supporters for their support. There’s no other ground in the country that gets behind their players like our supporters do.”

He was again delighted by January newcomers James Beattie and Matthew Etherington after they combined for the all-important winner on the stroke of half-time.

“Both Etherington and Beattie were outstanding,” he said.

“Matty brings something different to the club. He can get down the pitch, get past people and put a great cross in.

“We had a lot of players out, but those who came in have shown the spirit we need. Andy Wilkinson had a pain-killing injection before the game, but he’s a tough, local kiddie.

“The most important thing is the next game now at Sunderland. We’ve got to start getting
something away. We’ve got to make sure we’re as resilient away as we are at home.

“We’ve got to get as many points as we can and we’ll be working very hard to do that.”

Stoke will be taking a rain check on Ricardo Fuller, Danny Higginbotham and Amdy Faye after injury either prevented or curtailed their involvement against Manchester City.