Stoke City manager Tony Pulis praised York City after his side saw off the non-league club 3-1 in the FA Cup.
Minstermen boss Foyle disappointed to lose lead so quickly
Stoke City manager Tony Pulis was full of praise for York City after seeing his side avoid an FA Cup upset against the non-league club.
The visitors threatened to spring a shock at The Britannia when they took the lead in the third-round tie through a Neil Barrett header in the first half.
However, Stoke hit back with two goals in as many minutes to move ahead, a Danny Parslow own goal levelling matters before Ricardo Fuller headed the hosts in front, both efforts come from long throws from Rory Delap.
Matthew Etherington's second-half free-kick sealed the win for Stoke, who fielded a strong side in the light of their hampered preparations.
Real tribute
"York's players are a credit to their club and the supporters," he said. "To bring nearly 5,000 here is absolutely fantastic.
"It's a real tribute to the FA Cup. I think we in the Premier League sometimes under-value it due to the money involved in the Premiership, but we're a very special country in having so many football clubs - both professionally and part-time.
"A small club like York - and I'm not being disrespectful - can bring so many people to watch them play at Stoke - that's fantastic really."
Pulis, who admitted he had feared the game would never go ahead after York were delayed in arriving at the ground, forcing a later kick-off, decided against resting too many players due to a lack of training during the build-up.
"We've not been able to train at the training ground due to the weather conditions, so I had a chat with the players and, because it's a three-game week, I said to them that I'd cut back on the training," he added.
"We cut that back a bit so they would work harder for the games."
Opposite number Martin Foyle described Rory Delap's long throw as a "missile" as his side were undone by three set-piece goals.
"It's a fantastic asset. It's contributed to a lot of Stoke's goals over this season and the last," he admitted.
"We defended them well in training but the trajectory of it is absolutely frightening. It's a missile that could keep Stoke in the Premier League again."
