Stoke striker Peter Crouch believes his side deserved their the 2-1 win over Tottenham at the Britannia, despite the visitors dominating much of the match.
Stoke took a 2-0 lead into half-time thanks to a Matthew Etherington double, with both goals coming from Ryan Shotton throw-ins, but Spurs ensured a tense last half-hour as Emmanuel Adebayor scored a penalty 15 minutes into the second half.
However, Harry Redknapp’s side were unable to score a second despite the best efforts of Scott Parker, Sebastien Bassong and Younes Kaboul, whilst the latter was sent off for two yellow card offences.
Speaking to Sky Sports about Stoke’s determination, Crouch said: “Obviously they are going to come at you, they’re a top class side and you’re going to be under the cosh and everyone’s got to put a shift in.
“That’s what we did; we defended right from the front. Everyone was working as hard as they possibly could and you can’t take that result away from us, I thought we deserved it.”
The win sees Tony Pulis’ team move above Norwich City and Aston Villa into eighth, a position that looked unlikely just a few weeks ago as they lost four consecutive matches, and Crouch believes three points against a team of Spurs’ calibre is ideal.
“It was a massive result,” he added.
“Every three points in the Premier League is big for us and against a team who have been on fire at the minute.
“We’ve got to take heart from that, it was a great performance.
“I think we’ve shown what we’re about, hard-work, determination with some quality as well, so great performance.”
In the build-up to the Stoke and Etherington’s first, the ball appeared to bounce up and hit the England striker’s right arm before he slid it across goal, but Crouch was adamant that, if it did hit him, he didn’t mean it.
“Well, I didn’t think it did,” he claimed.
“It was totally unintentional if it did, but from then on we kept the ball alive and Matty [Etherington] scored a great goal.”
So far this season, Stoke have taken points off Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and now Spurs at the Britannia Stadium, and Crouch shared his past experiences of the ground being a difficult place to visit.
“We do enjoy it [getting the big teams to the Britannia].
“I know having been a visiting player here before, it’s a difficult place to come, no one relishes it and we proved that again tonight.”
The match marked Crouch’s first against Tottenham since leaving the White Hart Lane club in the summer, and he admits that winning against his former club made it a little more special.
“It does [make the win sweeter]. I have a lot of friends there and I wish them all the best, I think they’ll go close this year, but yeah, it’s nice for me, against an old club, to win as well.”