Pulis sweats on Etherington

Tony Pulis was left sweating on the availability of Matthew Etherington for the FA Cup final after the winger was injured in the win over Wolves.

The influential wide-man pulled up injured with a hamstring injury midway through the first period of the comfortable 3-0 success on Tuesday night.

He will go for scans on Wednesday and Pulis admitted it took the shine off an otherwise great evening for the Potters, with the win surely making his side safe for a fourth successive season in the top flight with 42 points.

Pulis told Sky Sports: “The disappointing thing is Etherington with his hamstring, we are just hoping and praying that Matty will be fit in two-and-a-half weeks’ time.

“The disappointing thing is Etherington with his hamstring, we are just hoping and praying that Matty will be fit in two-and-a-half weeks’ time.”
Tony Pulis Quotes of the week

“We’ll have a scan tomorrow and find out how bad it is.

“That is the major disappointment of the game tonight but the rest of it, its just absolutely fantastic.”

The victory was achieved thanks to first-half goals from Kenwyne Jones and Ryan Shawcross, while Jermaine Pennant added a third six minutes after the interval to make sure of the points.

Pulis, who has often spoken of the importance of his side surviving in the top flight for three seasons to be able to build for the future, said: “I thought we played really, really well and to come in 2-0 we were a little bit disappointed.

“Wolves had a go the first ten minutes (of the second half) and Jermaine’s goal really killed the game, but it was a cracking performance and it was a big game for us, a massive game for us.

“I think those points will most probably keep us in the Premiership for a fourth year and we are in the final of the FA Cup – it’s not bad is it, for Stoke City?”