Stoke City face date with destiny as Mark Robins says ‘no time for regrets’
Mark Robins previews Stoke City’s huge last home game of the season against Sheffield United
Stoke City have no time for regrets as Mark Robins takes his side into a final home match of the season tasked with confirming their place in the Championship.
A win for Stoke against Sheffield United in front of the live TV cameras tonight (8pm) will guarantee survival – a draw or loss would see fans glued to other results tomorrow – and Robins is sure his players will want to try to atone for such a heavy defeat at Leeds on Monday.
“We owe each other the same thing,” said the manager. “I’m sure if we could play that game again we would all do something differently but there’s no time for regret. We have to move forward knowing there are players who want to do well, want to pick up these points we need to ensure safety in the division because it’s not guaranteed yet. It may be done (tonight), it may be done on Saturday by other means but we want to be in control of everything and finish the job off and then we can start to look at what we do next and pick the bones out of everything then.
Stoke have won three and drawn two of their last five home games to keep them in control of their own destiny.
Robins came in with a priority of addressing form at the bet365 Stadium and he puts great stock on the backing he has received from the home stands.
He said: “It really is the proverbial 12th man and you saw at Elland Road on Monday, you felt it, what support can do. That’s what we talk about when we look back at Covid and going through that period when we didn’t have supporters in the stadium, how special it is to have supporters in the ground and how powerful it can be when everybody is together.
“They’ve really helped us in this period and they will help us again – they’ll help us again forevermore because that’s what they do. It can’t be underestimated how their positive noise assists the players in their performances.”
Robins said: “They’re a good team, they’ve got some really good players and some that the Stoke City public will know really well obviously with Tyrese Campbell coming back and potentially starting, Tom Cannon is there as well and Harry Clarke. They are all high level Championship players and they are all aspiring to play in the Premier League.
“They’ve got two games, hopefully three for them, (in the play-offs) and they are capable of really good things in this division.
