Stoke City vs Preston 2-0

Stoke City beat Preston 2-0 at bet365 Stadium after Ben Wilmot opened the scoring and Jack McGlynn added a second after the break. Preston never found a reply, and Stoke held the lead from the 29th minute to full time.

The first goal came in the 29th minute when Wilmot scored from Jack McGlynn’s assist to make it 1-0. Stoke led 1-0 at half-time.

McGlynn then doubled Stoke’s lead on 53 minutes, finishing from Ethan Galbraith to make it 2-0. Preston had already sent on Thierry Small for Brad Potts on 45 minutes, then made two more changes on 63 minutes when Andrew Moran replaced Delano Burgzorg and Jusef Erabi came on for Callum Lang. Stoke answered with two changes on 73 minutes, sending on Junior Tchamadeu for Luca Bombino and George Hirst for Róbert Boženík, before another two on 81 minutes, when Million Manhoef replaced Justin Devenny and Svante Ingelsson came on for El Hadji Soumare. The home side saw out the rest without giving Preston a route back.

The numbers pointed one way. Stoke had 60% possession, 454 passes to Preston’s 299, 18 shots to 3 and 6 on target to none. They also finished with 2.27 expected goals, compared with Preston’s 0.16, while Preston had 7 corners to Stoke’s 9, 15 fouls to 11, and 4 saves to Stoke’s 0.

There were four bookings. Preston’s Brad Potts was booked in the 2nd minute before he was replaced on 45 minutes, Stoke’s Luca Bombino was booked in the 43rd minute and Ethan Galbraith in the 76th, and Preston’s Jusef Erabi was booked in the 90th minute.