Narcis Pelach’s focus on set-pieces paid off as Ben Gibson’s late header secured Stoke a 2-1 win against Derby.
Stoke led through an early Tom Cannon penalty before a mix-up between Gibson and goalkeeper Viktor Johansson saw the visitors level midway through the second half.
But skipper Gibson headed in from a corner in the 82nd minute to earn Pelach just a second Championship win since taking charge of the Potters in September.
“We wanted to be more aggressive than them, we want to be this strong team that scores with wide free-kicks and set-plays, I was very pleased with the (winning) goal that we scored,” Stoke boss Pelach said.
“We have worked a lot on set-plays. When I was with Huddersfield, we were the best team in the league, we scored 22 goals from set-plays by keeping it very simple but being very aggressive.
“I am really pleased. When you watch the goal back we are nasty, we put the ball into the six-yard box and we get good contact with it. I am pleased that our captain has scored it after the mistake for their goal.
“I think we were the better team, I think we deserved the win, we score a nice goal with some really good play which resulted in the penalty, but for me the most important thing for me was coming back mentally from the goal we conceded.
“Against Hull and Bristol City we lost composure mentally, not tactically, and today we stayed there. We lost momentum for 10 minutes today, but we tried to be calm, we came back and scored and we have come away with three points.”
Derby manager Paul Warne was not happy with referee John Smith at full-time, claiming that Stoke’s winner should have been ruled out for a foul on Nat Phillips moments before Gibson headed past Jacob Widell Zetterstrom.
“I am so disappointed with the second goal, but I would be,” Warne said.
“I don’t expect anyone will be surprised to hear me say that I think it is a foul, but if you run flat out into the front zone man, to knock him out of the way and you score in the front zone, then I’m going to be disappointed.
“But, if you don’t play well enough, you possibly don’t get anything out of the game. I don’t think we played well enough in the entirety to merit any points.
“I thought at 1-1 we were gonna win it, 1-0 is an awful scoreline for the fanbase, even the Stoke fans thought it, that we might get a goal here sooner or later.
“We tried to make attacking substitutions, and I’m an optimist, I thought we were going to go and win it after that.”
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