Pulis thrilled with team

Stoke manager Tony Pulis praised his side's ruthless first-half display after sweeping aside QPR.

Stoke manager Tony Pulis praised his side's ruthless first-half display after sweeping aside QPR to secure a first home win in four attempts. Richard Cresswell and Liam Lawrence both netted inside the opening 20 minutes to pave the way for a comfortable 3-1 victory at the Britannia Stadium. The Hoops had Dexter Blackstock sent off for scything down Ryan Shawcross but pulled a goal back through Rowan Vine before defender Leon Cort wrapped up the points late on. Victory lifts promotion-hopefuls Stoke up to eighth while Luigi De Canio's Rangers remain third bottom. "I'm very pleased with the result," beamed Pulis. "The first goal settled us down and I thought in the first half we played really well. "I was very pleased with the first-half performance but disappointed with the second half. When they went down to 10 men I didn't think it would suit us because the expectation then is us to romp away with it. "It's nothing more than a mind set. But it was a tough game and I'm very pleased with the result." Pulis expressed sympathy over Blackstock's second-half dismissal. He added: "I don't like seeing players sent off to be honest and I don't like seeing players booked. It's a game of challenge and we are taking that challenge out of the game.

Questioned

Rangers performance manager Joe Dunbar, deputising for the ill De Canio at the post-match press conference, questioned some of the decisions made by referee Uriah Rennie. Dunbar said: "I think both management teams are disappointed with some of the decisions. There were some odd ones. "Some 50/50s you always think go in your favour and it seemed not too many went in our favour in the first half." On the sending off of Blackstock, Dunbar admitted: "It's difficult to see the incident from where we were but when the opposition dugout is saying to you that it seemed a bit harsh and when the opposition players are telling the referee it was a harsh decision you start to draw your own conclusion." Bizarrely, Rangers only came to life after losing the services of Blackstock shortly after half-time and Dunbar was quick to praise the side's resolve. "I think one of the things about our season in the last five or six games is we have been finishing games strongly," he added. "We've got some very attack-minded players within the squad who have pace and we knew we would get chances. "We knew it be a tough game and we knew we would be coming up against a strong physical side."