Match ends, Stoke City 3, Plymouth Argyle 0.
Stoke City all but secured their Championship safety with a comfortable win against Plymouth Argyle, who remain in a relegation battle.
Ki-Jana Hoever and Million Manhoef's first-half strikes were followed by a late goal from Wouter Burger as the Potters put six points between themselves and the drop zone with two matches left to play.
Argyle, who were helped by Huddersfield losing heavily against Swansea, are four points above the bottom three with games against Millwall and Hull remaining.
Stoke went into the game knowing that their far superior goal difference over Huddersfield and Sheffield Wednesday meant victory would go a long way to keeping them in the division.
The hosts started the game on the front foot with an effort from Luke Cundle which went narrowly over, before Josh Laurent tried one from the edge of the box that Dan Scarr blocked well.
The Pilgrims were then forced into an early change as midfielder Adam Forshaw went down injured and had to be replaced by Jordan Houghton with less than 10 minutes on the clock.
Hoever came closest to opening the scoring as Plymouth gave away the ball, allowing the Wolves loanee to advance into the area and his powerful strike cannoned off the crossbar.
Frustrations boiled over before the break in such a high-stakes game as Tyrese Campbell, Hoever, Bali Mumba and Michael Cooper were all cautioned following an altercation.
The Potters then broke the deadlock late in the first half as Laurent threaded a pass through to Hoever, who slid beyond Cooper to give City the lead with his fourth goal of the season.
It got even better for the hosts in first-half stoppage time as they doubled their lead through winger Manhoef. The Dutchman shifted the ball on to his left foot on the edge of the area and fired beyond the reach of Cooper.
Plymouth made two changes at half-time, taking off Joe Edwards and Julio Pleguezuelo for Lewis Gibson and Alfie Devine, but they were still unable to create enough clear-cut chances.
Stoke brought on substitute Niall Ennis who made a positive impact straight away after his introduction, shooting from an acute angle but inches wide of the far post.
Ennis continued to cause trouble for the Argyle defence late on, forcing Cooper into a double save as he also thwarted Mehdi Leris follow up.
The hosts then finished in style as Burger fired home from 12 yards after a cut-back from the right-hand side.
Stoke boss Steven Schumacher told BBC Radio Stoke:
"It was a really good performance, we expected it to be a hard game but we were excellent.
"We were aggressive and won a lot of duels, in the key moments we showed composure too.
"It's a good day, the goals before half-time were crucial, we were brilliant and the scoreline was a fair reflection."
Line-ups
Stoke
Formation 4-2-3-1
- 1Iversen
- 17HoeverBooked at 36mins
- 16WilmotBooked at 26mins
- 23McNally
- 3Stevens
- 28Laurent
- 15Thompson
- 42ManhoefSubstituted forLérisat 82'minutes
- 25CundleSubstituted forBurgerat 74'minutes
- 22Bae
- 10CampbellBooked at 36minsSubstituted forEnnisat 64'minutes
Substitutes
- 5Rose
- 6Burger
- 7Cunha Vidigal
- 8Baker
- 13Bonham
- 14Ennis
- 20Haksabanovic
- 27Léris
- 35Lowe
Plymouth
Formation 3-4-2-1
- 1CooperBooked at 35mins
- 5PleguezueloSubstituted forGibsonat 45'minutes
- 6ScarrBooked at 62mins
- 22Galloway
- 8EdwardsSubstituted forDevineat 45'minutesBooked at 69mins
- 20Randell
- 27ForshawSubstituted forHoughtonat 9'minutes
- 2MumbaBooked at 36mins
- 10Whittaker
- 15BunduSubstituted forWrightat 71'minutes
- 9HardieSubstituted forWaineat 82'minutes
Substitutes
- 3Sousa
- 4Houghton
- 11Wright
- 16Devine
- 17Gibson
- 21Hazard
- 23Waine
- 26Phillips
- 35Issaka
- Referee:
- Robert Madley
- Attendance:
- 24,674
Match Stats
- Possession
- Home52%
- Away48%
- Shots
- Home23
- Away8
- Shots on Target
- Home4
- Away1
- Corners
- Home7
- Away3
- Fouls
- Home14
- Away11
Live Text
Post update
Full Time
Second Half ends, Stoke City 3, Plymouth Argyle 0.
Goal!
Goal! Stoke City 3, Plymouth Argyle 0. Wouter Burger (Stoke City) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Mehdi Léris.
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Josh Laurent (Stoke City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
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Foul by Callum Wright (Plymouth Argyle).
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Luke McNally (Stoke City) wins a free kick on the left wing.
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Foul by Ben Waine (Plymouth Argyle).
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Attempt blocked. Mehdi Léris (Stoke City) left footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Wouter Burger.
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Attempt missed. Ben Wilmot (Stoke City) header from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Jordan Thompson with a cross following a corner.
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Corner, Stoke City. Conceded by Brendan Galloway.
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Attempt blocked. Mehdi Léris (Stoke City) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
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Attempt saved. Niall Ennis (Stoke City) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Bae Jun-Ho.
Substitution
Substitution, Stoke City. Mehdi Léris replaces Million Manhoef.
Substitution
Substitution, Plymouth Argyle. Ben Waine replaces Ryan Hardie.
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Foul by Niall Ennis (Stoke City).
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Brendan Galloway (Plymouth Argyle) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
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Attempt blocked. Josh Laurent (Stoke City) right footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Jordan Thompson.
Substitution
Substitution, Stoke City. Wouter Burger replaces Luke Cundle.
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Foul by Enda Stevens (Stoke City).
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Adam Randell (Plymouth Argyle) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Comments
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No idea why a portion of Stoke fans are obsessed with seeing us go down though. Know it's not all of them, just a minority, but surely they should be focusing on their big club instead of us.
Championship safety for both sided now, surely.