Stoke & Staffordshire

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  1. Th crooked house pub - a slanted red brick pub with a sign outside and picnic benches

  2. Stoke building an improved culture - Robins

    Robins: 'There's so many good signs'

    Stoke City boss Mark Robins believes supporters are seeing positive signs from his team, built on an improved culture at the club.

    The Potters are eighth in the Championship table with Tuesday's 3-2 defeat by Middlesbrough ending a six-game unbeaten run.

    "There is so much to like and so much to be excited about. It's not just me saying that, you see that and the supporters are reflecting that and that's a real positive." Robins told BBC Radio Stoke.

    "Even in the defeat, I thought we got stronger in it and it's about belief and having that understanding we're going to be good. We're good now but we're going to be good."

    Stoke lost their opening three games of the season, having been beaten in five of their final six matches last season but Robins thinks a summer of recruitment and hard work behind the scenes is paying off.

    "There are things the players understand have got to be habits and that's what the supporters are seeing which bodes well," he said.

    "There are so many good signs, positive signs and we've got to keep building on that.

    "The culture around the place has improved. We've got a way of doing things that is acceptable, that we want to see on a daily basis and that reflects in what we do every day and you can then do that on the football pitch."

    The Potters visit struggling Derby County on Saturday (15:00 BST).

    Listen to more Stoke City interviews and content on BBC Sounds.

  3. Google street view of a road entering a business park

  4. Generic image of EFL ball

  5. A man wearing a white shirt with black epaulettes and a blue lanyard is positioned against a light grey backdrop. He is turned slightly and looking at the camera and is smiling for the photograph.

  6. A man with brown hair in a beige polo shirt with a room in the background.

  7. A close-up of a football with EFL branding

  8. Colin Farrell poses on a red carpet in a black tuxedo and bow tie at an awards ceremony.

  9. People standing a field watching a row of houses burn

  10. The inside of a derelict indoor market building. Damage to the ceiling is visible and greenery is growing out of the ground.

  11. Stoke still feeling confident, says defender Wilmot

    Ged Scott and Mark Elliott
    BBC Sport England

    Middlesbrough striker Will Lankshear crashes to earth at the Bet365 Stadium under the close attentions of Stoke City defender Ben WilmotShutterstock

    Stoke defender Ben Wilmot coped well with Championship top scorer Will Lankshear for most of the night against Middlesbrough

    Stoke City defender Ben Wilmot is confident the Potters can bounce straight back from suffering their first defeat in almost two months.

    After starting the season with three straight Championship losses, Mark Robins' men had responded superbly with a run of 16 points out of a possible 18.

    Middlesbrough's injury-time winner at the Bet365 Stadium on Tuesday brought that to a cruel end - but Stoke now face the Championship's current bottom two in their next three matches.

    And Wilmot says they will be motivated by the way they performed against Boro.

    "The positive is that we put in a good performance and shouldn't have lost," he told BBC Radio Stoke. "And I'm sure we'll soon get back to winning ways.

    "We're young and we're learning but we're still full of confidence. We were good value for at least a point.

    "We took our time to get into the game. They dominated the ball in the first half without creating loads, which we were fine with, but we knew we needed to get more of the ball, which we did second half.

    "It was then the little moments that cost us in the second half and that's disappointing."

    Saturday's trip to Potters old boy John Eustace's Derby is their next test, followed by home games on successive Saturdays - Bristol City, then the visit of bottom club Preston North End.

  12. A springer spaniel is licking its nose and looking at the camera. It is sat in a garden. To the right is another picture, which shows dozens of dogs on the stairs in a filthy house.

  13. A man wearing a white and navy blue striped top. He is looking at the camera. He has brown hair and a short beard.

  14. No reason to suggest why Stoke cannot bounce back

    View from the press box graphic reading Mark Elliott, BBC Stoke and a yellow BBC microphoneBBC Sport
    Stoke players react in dismay after a chance against Middlesbrough goes beggingGetty Images

    Errors were Stoke's undoing in a game in which they tried to go toe to toe with Middlesbrough and came up short.

    Stoke should have had a penalty in the first half when Jeremy Sarmiento hauled down Djibril Soumare and Junior Tchamadeu missed a good chance when he raced through on goal in the second.

    On another day they might have won by the odd goal in several or taken at least a point but this time it was not to be.

    The first 10 games have given us a decent idea of where Stoke sit in the Championship.

    They have lost to Swansea, Southampton, Wolves and Middlesbrough who are, along with West Ham, probably the five teams to beat when it comes to automatic promotion.

    Against the rest, they have had nothing but good results, suggesting they are right to aim to finish in the lower half of the top eight.

    As a team that is still improving, that is not a bad position to be in and they have a great chance to further enhance those projections over the next month.

    Games at Derby County, Blackburn Rovers and Portsmouth around home games against Bristol City and Preston North End provide a run of fixtures that could yield a double figure haul in terms of points.

    A run of five wins in six unbeaten games may be over but there is no reason to suggest they should not bounce back and put another sequence of positive results together.

    Defeat by Boro is one to learn and move on from.

  15. A man holding a board with several poppy designs featuring a poppy combined with a feature associated with Staffordshire. They are laid on a black surface. The man is standing in front of a red fire engine.

  16. Middlesbrough striker Will Lankshear celebrates his 10th goal of the season - eight of which have come in the league

  17. A police cordon in place on a residential road, with an police car parked across it

  18. A police mugshot of a man with dark brown hair and beard. He is positioned against a light coloured background.

  19. A woman with black hair in standing against a wall with white bricks. She is wearing a dark-coloured top and smiling for the photograph.

  20. Pick of the stats: Stoke City v Middlesbrough

    Stoke City and Middlesbrough club badgesOpta

    Two of the Championship's in-form sides will meet when Stoke City welcome Middlesbrough to the bet365 Stadium on Tuesday night.

    After losing their opening three matches of the season, the Potters are unbeaten since then with five wins from six (D1), including three victories in a row.

    During that impressive run, Stoke have climbed from bottom to fourth in the table.

    Meanwhile, second-placed Boro are unbeaten in their past seven games (W4 D3) and have lost just once so far this season.

    • Stoke have lost three of their past four league games against Middlesbrough (D1), more than in their previous eight beforehand (W3 D3 L2).

    • Middlesbrough have won both of their previous two away league games against Stoke, and are looking to win three in a row for the very first time.

    • Stoke are looking to win four consecutive home league games for the first time since April 2014 in the Premier League.

    • Middlesbrough have only lost one of their past 10 away games in the Championship (W3 D6), a 1-2 defeat at Blackburn in August.

    • Mark Robins has only won more Championship games as a manager against Millwall (9) than Middlesbrough (8), although he has lost two of his three against them with Stoke (D1).

  21. A police car with two uniformed officers stood near it. There are houses and a road behind them with a St George's flag flying. A green sign reading "Littlewood Road" is in the foreground against a fence

  22. Three police officers are standing on a road with grass verges and houses in the distance. There is blue and white police tape across the road.

  23. 🎧 'Next away day, we're coming'

    A Cold Wet Tuesday Night: 'Next away day, we're coming'

    The latest episode of BBC Radio Stoke's A Cold Wet Tuesday Night podcast is out now.

    Lucas Yeomans and Louis Moult discuss Stoke's win at Bolton Wanderers to go six games unbeaten.

    Listen above or on BBC Sounds here - and don't forget to subscribe to get each episode into your My Sounds feed.

    Listen on BBC Sounds

  24. A tall man and short women both looking at the camera smiling. They are stood in front of a shelf of various food and drink items.