Mark Robins heaped praise on his Stoke City players for getting the better of a Birmingham City team and manager that he respects.

Bosun Lawal scored the only goal of the game at the Bet365 Stadium on Saturday to hand the Potters a 1-0 win over Blues.

After a positive start to the season, Blues are going through their first sticky patch with three straight defeats without scoring in league and cup.

Nevertheless, Robins believes Blues can be a force in the Championship and says their record-breaking League One season was ‘laudable’.

Reflecting on Stoke’s win over Blues, Robins said: “I thought they had a lot of possession. I thought they were trying to play, you know, they didn't really necessarily go long early, they carried on trying to play, which you expect from them.

“They've

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