Soccer
‘Fantastic’ goals lift Stoke boss Mark Robins as 10-man Charlton are well beaten
Delighted Stoke boss Mark Robins saluted his “fantastic” side as they put Charlton to the sword with a fine 4-0 home victory at the bet365 Stadium.
A brilliant brace from debutant Justin Devenny and other first-half goals from Ethan Galbraith and George Hirst saw the Potters put the Sky Bet Championship contest to bed before the break.
To compound a miserable afternoon for former Stoke boss Nathan Jones on his return to Staffordshire, second-half substitute Danny McNamara was sent off for two careless yellow cards in the space of three minutes early in the second half as the afternoon spiralled out of control for the visitors.
“If we could have written a [perfect] script, then that would have been it,” praised Robins.
“I thought we played really well. There was a lot to be pleased about.
“On the back of the other night [a 1-0 home win over Norwich] it was really important we had a really good performance against a side that was unbeaten before the game. And we certainly got that.
“We created some momentum with our play and, I’ve got to say, all four of the goals were fantastic.
“We’ve got the penalty and then we’ve scored some good goals. “Shooting has been really lacking for a long time, but they did that well today.
“When you look at what we have, then you’re looking for goals. We’ve got players that are really hungry for that.
“If we can get that throughout the team, well, then that really bodes well, because I’d like to see us scoring more from set-plays as well.”
Northern Ireland international forward Devenny, who joined from Crystal Palace just before the transfer window shut, dazzled on his debut and Robins reflected: “When we knew he was available we pushed the button quickly to get him because there was a lot of interest in him.
“He’s scored two good goals, but as a team we will grow and get better because these players are hungry to do well.
“We’ve got decent depth and quality and that’s the exciting part for me.”
Jones was left “bitterly disappointed” with Robert Madley for some of the referee’s decisions, including the award of a 15th minute penalty which he believed gave Stoke a lifeline back into the contest.
The Charlton boss said: “I’ve gone in and seen him [the referee]. I’m bitterly disappointed with my own team’s performance, but I’m as bitterly disappointed with another performance as well.
“There were so many things that went against us but straight after the penalty we went under for 20 minutes – and my teams don’t normally do that.
“But we’ve done it twice here. That’s the thing that hurts me and hurts my teams, us going under like that.
“I think they [Stoke] need me to come here because they get better results when I get back.
“We had a great start and wanted to silence the crowd, but we gave away an absolute gift [for the opening goal]. That can’t happen.
“But after the penalty, fair play to Stoke, they never looked back. After that gift of the penalty they were far better.
“I’m definitely going to get it [a hostile reception] when I come back here, but I expected that. I had it when I was manager, so I’m definitely going to get it as an opposing manager.”
The Welshman added: “We’ve lost but we’re in a really good position and we’ve started really well. We’ve got 10 points from five games, which is promotion form.
“We would have taken that [at the start of the season] but today it’s fresh, it hurts and it’s raw.”
