Stoke City news from StokeonTrentLive as the Potters beat Burton Albion 1-0 in the Bass Charity Vase at the Pirelli Stadium
Alex Neil was impressed with his Stoke City players as they beat Burton Albion 1-0 to win the Bass Charity Vase in their latest pre-season fixture at the Pirelli Stadium on Tuesday night.
Jacob Brown scored the only goal of the game for the Potters. Meanwhile, new signings Andre Vidigal, Chiquinho and the returning Ki-Jana Hoever got some minutes under their belts. Neil also had a look at on-trial Josh Onomah.
“I thought it was really good,” said Neil. “First half, I thought we should’ve scored around three really. Across the pitch there were a lot of top, top performances. Ki-Jana’s had one session, Chiquinho had one session, Vidigal’s had no sessions. So, to turn out the performances they did was really pleasing.”
The Stoke manager said results aren’t everything in these fixtures but they breed confidence and that was the most important aspect from the Burton game.
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He added: “Mainly for the players, it was confidence. Because results are important but they’re not the most important thing in preseason. We’ve got more bodies coming in on the pitch this evening, so we’ve still got loads to do. But what you can see is we’ve got the basis of a good team and we’ve still got bits to add to it, so we’ll be even better.”
Neil heaped praise onto defender Josh Tymon, who put in a good performance at left-back. “I thought it was Josh Tymon’s best performance at left-back as well for us, so it was really pleasing,” said Neil. “I think the score line should’ve been healthier but in terms of controlling the match creating opportunities getting the ball back. I thought we got that from tonight’s
Chiqunho and Vidigal made their debuts and got fans off their seats in the away end. Neil praised both for their performances after barely having any training sessions with the squad.
“I think that it’s difficult for them. Chiqunho had one session yesterday so he’s got a rough idea of what we’re asking him to do. You can see he’s got individual quality. He puts a great ball in as well on his right foot. Andre to be fair to him I chucked him in at the deep end. He didn’t even get a session yesterday, so I just wanted to get 45 minutes in his legs and see where he is.”
Ki-Jana Hoever also impressed his manager in East Staffordshire. And Neil is expecting more to come from the player we saw at Stoke last season.
“He’s top. I thought he was outstanding. Really pleased to have him back. I think he’ll be even better than he was last year. I think you can see he’s playing with confidence and with a swagger. His athleticism is top and just a quality player.”
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