TONY Pulis is confident he and Stoke City chairman Peter Coates can get together to unearth fresh talent to compensate for the potential long-term loss of stricken striker Mama Sidibe.

Pulis must intensify his search for at least one new forward in the January transfer window after seeing Sidibe sustain suspected damage to his cruciate knee ligament.

The Mali international was today awaiting official confirmation of the extent of the damage after he fell awkwardly during the opening stages of Saturday’s goalless draw with Fulham.

Pulis, who was already on the lookout for pace up front, is now forced to also consider the possibility of a direct replacement for Sidibe for the second half of the season.

The City manager says there is no specific transfer budget, but explained: “What Peter has done is say if there’s players out there then bring them to the table. If we can do it we will try, if not then we won’t.

“Peter knows the game. He’s 70 years of age, not a young up-and-coming chairman who thinks he can turn water into wine.”

Stoke’s injury problems go further than a forward line also currently deprived of record signing Dave Kitson, however.

Skipper Andy Griffin and midfielder Salif Diao are under treatment with the knee and calf injuries which sidelined them on Saturday, while Rory Delap was in visible discomfort against Fulham after aborting his first throw because of an on-going shoulder injury requiring pain-killing injections.

“We are stretched at the moment after losing good players,” Pulis conceded, “and so we are asking others to step up and deliver.

“Our four midfield players worked exceptionally hard and had to because Fulham had good players in there.”

Stoke missed the clearest chance to score when Richard Cresswell shot over in the first half of a game of few chances in front of goal.

“You need to take chances at this level and the big chance was Richard’s,” Pulis acknowledged. “We score then and it’s a different story.

“But the lads showed great spirit and really restricted Fulham to long-range shots. They never really opened us up and, if they did, we defended really well, particularly our two centre-halves.”

Pulis held his hands up and confessed that a penalty should have been awarded against Danny Higginbotham for handball in the first half, while agreeing with the referee’s decision to wave away Ricardo Fuller’s penalty claims in the second.

“Truthfully, I didn’t think ours was, but theirs was. He’s just barged Ric and it was an indirect free-kick at best. As for theirs, it did hit Danny on the hand. I can’t be any more honest than that.”

He resisted the temptation to condemn Fulham defender John Pantsil for some crass play-acting after squaring up to Ricardo Fuller by observing: “The way he was lying on the floor it looked like he was hit with a hammer. But I checked Ricardo’s pockets after the game and he didn’t have a hammer on him.”

Stoke’s draw leaves them on 20 points, halfway towards what many regard as the 40-point safety target, after stretching their unbeaten league run to four games.

“It’s been a great year for us,” Pulis added, “and I hope our fans are proud of the players and what they are trying to do here.

“I thought they were fantastic again. It was a 0-0 draw against a team people were expecting us to beat, but they stuck with us.”