Monday 4 December 2017 23:08, UK
Peter Crouch is hopeful his recent performances will earn him a regular starting place at Stoke.
The striker has been effective as a substitute for the Potters this season, scoring three Premier League goals off the bench, and the club showed how highly he is valued by tying him to a new one-year contract last week.
At that stage, the 36-year-old had yet to start a league game this season, but manager Mark Hughes named him in the team for last week's defeat by Liverpool and Crouch kept his place for Saturday's victory over Swansea.
Crouch said: "I always felt I could still start games and hopefully I've proved that.
"It would be nice to have a little run now and stay in the team. That's what I wanted and signing the contract was where I wanted to be as well.
"Hopefully, I've proved myself. I've run about and put myself around, so I've proved, having played two games in a week, that I'm fit enough to do things at this level. Hopefully there's a role for me."
Crouch created problems for the Swansea defence all afternoon at the weekend and created what proved to be the winner with a flick-on for Mame Diouf.
The pair started together up front, something Crouch hopes will become a more regular occurrence
He said: "I enjoyed it, I really did. It was nice to have someone like Mame reading the flick-ons and up there to help.
"Myself and him have different attributes and it can really work. Invariably, I've played up front on my own and been isolated, so to have a partner up there was a welcome relief."
