We stood up to Stoke test - Daws

Michael Dawson was delighted to see the team 'stand strong' to take maximum points at Stoke on Saturday.

Danny Rose’s header in the first half secured a 1-0 victory at the Britannia Stadium - only Stoke’s third defeat on home soil in the Premier League this term.

Stoke’s best chances arrived after they were reduced to 10 men following Ryan Shawcross’s dismissal for a second yellow card at the start of the second half.

Roared on by the Britannia crowd, the 10 men appeared galvanised but they failed to take their opportunities as Peter Odemwingie headed wide and Marko Arnautovic didn’t fully test Hugo Lloris after breaking through late on.

Harry Kane, Aaron Lennon and Christian Eriksen all had shots blocked from good positions, Gylfi Sigurdsson fired just wide, Christian curled a free-kick just over and Paulinho was denied one-on-one as the shot count finished 17-16 in Stoke’s favour.

“I thought we dominated in the first half and played very well,” said skipper Michael, back after injury to start his first game since March 8.

“In the second half when they went down to 10 men, you’d like to think we’d dominate again, but it doesn’t work that way at Stoke.

“We didn’t pass it like we normally do and they pushed on. They had the momentum but we dug deep and showed another side (to our game). You have to do that at Stoke. They don’t give up.

“I thought they had a real go at the end of the game which was always going to happen, 1-0 down at home, but we stood strong.”