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

GLENN Whelan claimed Robinho’s shirt as a souvenir of one of his finest performances of the season.

Whelan and team-mates had pursued the Brazilian like men possessed during the previous 90 minutes, forcing him to concede a fair share of pride along with his hopes of inspiring his team to victory at the Britannia.

Robinho’s red-and-white ring of security was so tight that he must have half expected the City players to personally escort him back on the coach.

“I raced after him to get the shirt,” grinned Whelan. “It’s the quickest I moved all game.”

That’s not quite true because Whelan worked as hard as any to ensure Robinho, Shaun
Wright-Phillips and Craig Bellamy had no room or service.

Stoke’s Republic of Ireland international is better known as a play maker than a destroyer, but he showed the defensive side of his game to some effect.

Whelan came through the youth ranks at Man City, but his satisfaction with this result came from Stoke’s response to their defeat at Tottenham, rather than getting one over on his old club.

He said: “It wasn’t about the performance here.

“It was all about getting the right result and we have done that after the disappointment of Tottenham.

“We were back to it here, we’ve got three points – that’s all that matters.”

Whelan shows unnecessary modesty by playing down a team performance which was as much as Tony Pulis or the supporters could have asked for.

Whelan added: “We knew it was going to be tough. They have some great players, but we just had to stick together.

“We are a hard team to beat, especially at home.

“Any team coming to Stoke with the wind that gets up here probably doesn’t fancy it a
bit.”

City’s sixth win of the season – their first win since November – also kick-starts an end-of-season run in which they play most of their fellow relegation candidates at the Britannia.

Whelan added: “We have a lot of games coming up against teams around us.

“This was one of those, so it could be a massive win.”

This performance can only have improved Whelan’s own chances of being involved for the
rest of the campaign.

Pulis has been linked with a move for a central midfielder before today’s transfer deadline, but having waited until December to get a regular run in the side, Whelan isn’t ready to step aside.

He said: “Any player wants to play in every game. I am no different.

“I wasn’t in the side, but he told me to sit tight and work hard and that’s what I have done. Hopefully, I can keep doing the same and keep the spot.”