Stoke boss Nathan Jones feels that the 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest can be a turning point for his Potters side.
Peter Etebo and Benik Afobe were both on target at the bet365 Stadium as Jones’ men returned to winning ways after a six-game winless run in the Sky Bet Championship.
And the Welshman was delighted with the performance in front of their own supporters.
Jones said: “I thought that was probably our most complete performance in terms of starting a game, the football we played at times, and I thought we had more cutting edge today.
“I thought we were more of a threat, defensively we were very strong and really did limit them today, and once we got the second goal, we could have got a third or a fourth.
“Everything is a process, we’re building, we are building here. We can become a much more potent team and we showed that, and soon as we got our second goal, we became a much more potent team, we passed with more confidence, and that’s a mentality, and goals and wins do that to a team.
“We haven’t been good enough at home at times. Last week was frustration.
“They (the players) haven’t been used to winning games, seeing out games and being on the front foot and taking a game away from a team, but that comes, and it will come with confidence and work, mentalities, players, but today I thought we were excellent.
“I thought it was a much more proactive performance and in the second-half, we looked solid, we got the second but overall I’m absolutely delighted as Forest are a good side and they are in real good form.”
Stoke were in front in the 15th minute when Etebo collected Tom Ince’s pass to drive towards goal before guiding his low right-footed effort which beat Forest goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon to find the bottom right-corner.
After the break, home goalkeeper Jack Butland was forced to keep out Jack Robinson’s effort from distance before tipping Joao Carvalho’s strike over the crossbar.
The Potters’ second goal came after 74 minutes as Afobe raced on to Ince’s through ball to thump right-footed from the right side of the penalty area in to the bottom left corner, as the hosts moved up to 16th in the standings, while Forest are ninth, four points adrift of the play-offs.
Forest boss Martin O’Neill said: “Stoke proved equally as tough as I thought. They have some very, very decent players playing, some with wide experience and so in terms of themselves.
“They played strongly, and I thought they would play exactly as they did so it was no surprise to me how strong they, physically, but I was hoping that we would be ready for it after our result on Monday evening, but no, we were beaten today.
“I didn’t think that there was an incredible amount between the teams. I thought that Stoke played strongly, it may well be their best but I’m aware of their ability and I just thought we looked a bit leggy after Monday, but there shouldn’t have been a reason for that as it was Monday night, but this league is really about Saturday-Tuesday, Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday, so we should be ready for that, but we weren’t.
“Roy (Keane) was booked, I don’t know what for, obviously for some sort of verbal altercation with the linesman I think.”
