Stoke & Staffordshire

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Watch our pick of standout clips from Stoke and Staffordshire

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  1. Caylan Vickers

  2. Stoke 'deserve enormous credit' - Robins

    Robins: ‘We are going to be alright, going to be good’

    Stoke City manager Mark Robins admitted the "turbulence" around deadline day - and the sale of star man Sorba Thomas - threatened to overshadow their Championship game with Norwich.

    Instead, the Potters, who had not won a league game since April, took the honours with a 1-0 win.

    "We had to grind a win out somehow and we managed to do that, with a really well worked goal," he told BBC Radio Stoke.

    "We looked a threat on the counter-attack. They had loads of possession but as we know in this division it doesn't matter about possession.

    "We needed to get a clean sheet and win a game and it didn't matter how we did it.

    "Obviously there's a lot of turbulence around deadline day, so the lads deserve enormous credit for the way they've dug in and got the first three points.

    "The confidence can start to come from that."

  3. Jack McGlynn of Houston Dynamo during the first half of a MLS game against St. Louis City in Missouri (22 August 2026)

  4. Ethan Galbrath shoots with his right leg high in the air as ball travels low in right of frame

  5. Christina Alexander - a woman with blonde hair and wearing a gold headpiece, black clothes and a gold sash. She is standing in a hallway in front of a staircase with a door to her right.

  7. Listen to Praise and Grumble deadline day special

    BBC Sport's transfer deadline day graphic. Transfer is written in white on a black box, deadline is written in black on a yellow box and day is written in white letters on a black box. The words appear on top of a yellow patterned background.

    BBC Radio Stoke's Lucas Yeomans hosts a transfer deadline day special to discuss the business done by Stoke City, Port Vale and Crewe Alexandra.

    The show, which runs from 22:00-23:00 BST, will offer the latest updates and analysis.

    Listen to it here

    Subscribe to Praise and Grumble on BBC Sounds

  8. A headshot of a man who has a brown beard and is looking at the camera.

  9. Stuart Haycock - a man with short white hair, a white beard, wearing a dark suit jacket, white shirt and dark tie, with back trousers and a brown belt - stares straight at the camera as he has his hands behind his back. He is accompanied by people either side of him as he leaves a court building.

  10. New Port Vale signing Keyrol Figueroa holds up the club's crest on his shirt during a photo-shoot as he is announced as a new signing on 1 September 2026

  11. A man wearing a black hoodie is standing in what appears to be a bar. He is looking at the photographer, with a television screen behind him and a green fire exit sign.

  12. A young boy with blonde hair is wearing a pink t-shirt with white letters bearing the word Mencap on it. In the background is a tall sea wall and in the distance is a tower block with several floors.

  13. A red postbox that is face first on the ground, surrounding it are orange barriers.

  14. Two men with thin grey hair and beards in matching dark blue tops leaning against a wall with bushes behind them

  15. A woman with tied back hair, glasses on her head, a white shirt and a lanyard around her neck, smiles as she stands underneath a canopy at a shopping centre.

  16. Stoke City boss Mark Robins calls out during a game

  17. Stoke have to improve to match top sides

    Mark Elliott
    BBC Radio Stoke commentator

    A bearded Sam Gallagher in a red and white striped Stoke City shirt celebrates his goal against WolvesShutterstock

    When Stoke City made it clear their expectation was to compete for a play-off place this season, they will have known they would have to significantly close the gap in quality to teams like Wolves in order to succeed.

    Individual errors were a major factor behind the size of the defeat at Molineux on Saturday, but a 4–1 scoreline was a chastening reminder of how much work they still have to do to compete with the best teams in the division. Much of that work will have to be done quickly if they are going to achieve their aim.

    Stoke scored a great early goal through Sam Gallagher, and Sorba Thomas missed a couple of good chances, including one that could have made it 2-0, but familiar issues undid the Potters.

    In each of their three league games so far this season, they have made errors at both ends of the pitch, faded significantly late in the game and seen substitutes struggle to make an impact despite having periods where they have looked competitive.

    In the final days of the transfer window, they will need to add more quality and jettison some players who cannot contribute enough, while also trying to prepare for two huge home games in five days.

    Those games need to return points and provide evidence Stoke are strong enough to perform consistently across an entire game and are learning from their mistakes.

    Nobody is expecting them to show they are as good as Wolves in terms of squad depth and quality over the next week, but they do need to improve so that stated target does not look totally unrealistic by the end of game five.

  18. A busy motorway junction with trees on either side

  19. Joe Lewis in action for AFC Wimbledon in a royal blue top and shorts

  20. Graham is sat in a chair smiling at the camera. He has short, grey hair and is wearing a dark shirt and brown jumper. He is sat near a window with ornaments on the sill behind him and a lamp is on.

  21. Keira McManus, a girl with dark hair tied in two plaits and wearing a red sports top, smiles as she holds up a large gold medal, which is around her neck.

  22. Two men in red coats and tri-corn hats with white feathers on black horses holding guns with wooden stocks

  23. A brown horse with the odd small white marking, has its muzzle over a metal gate, with some flies around its eyes, in a field with hay bales.