Ricardo Fuller earned the praise of Stoke boss Tony Pulis after his stunning hat-trick sank West Brom.
Mowbray keen to look ahead after defeat
Ricardo Fuller earned the praise of Stoke boss Tony Pulis after his stunning hat-trick sank fellow promotion hopefuls West Brom.
The Jamaican striker ended speculation over his future last week when he signed a new contract to keep him at the Britannia Stadium until 2011.
Pulis was not surprised to see Fuller prove the key difference between the two teams as Stoke soaked up strong Albion pressure and hit them on the break to triumph 3-1.
Destroy
He said: "Ric's just signed a new three-year deal and it's great business for him and for us. He likes it here and everyone likes him.
"He's the icing on the cake for us and when he plays like that he takes a lot of stopping. If he can find space in behind people, he can destroy them.
"I thought it was a smashing game. West Brom have the best squad of players in the league and I'm confident they will get automatic promotion.
"We don't have their resources and strength in-depth, but we match them because of our commitment, determination and togetherness.
"The transfer window is now massive for us and we do need to add that extra bit of quality to give us a real chance."
Look forward
The visitors continued to pile forward even when three down and they did pull a goal back when Roman Bednar headed in from six yards 18 minutes from time.
Albion boss Tony Mowbray said: "We played some good football and we will always try to play the game the right way.
"But sometimes you have to give the opposition credit and Stoke did what they are good at.
"I didn't think we worked the Stoke keeper enough in the first half and two of the goals we conceded were sloppy from our point of view.
"We can't do anything about the result now and we just look forward to the next game."
