Stoke stunned as Chaplow's double eases Irvine fears

Midfielder Richard Chaplow claimed his first two goals for the club to lift Preston out of the bottom three and end the run of five victories that have taken Stoke to the top.

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The finishes for the former Burnley man, who moved back to the North West from West Bromwich during the January transfer window, could hardly have been different — the first smashed in from no more than a yard after 22 minutes and the second from more than 20 with a low right-foot drive after 33 minutes.

They had Irvine and everyone else connected with the club rejoicing as the manager had called for an improvement in their dismal goal return — the worst in the division, with just 31 from the previous 33 Championship games.

Stoke were shell-shocked after making the journey up the M6 followed by a large army of fans in confident mood. They had lost only one of their previous 18 League outings but by half-time they knew they needed a supreme effort to avoid defeat in the 19th.

They certainly couldn't be faulted for the way they put everything into the attempt to recover, but simply could not finish. The closest they came was in between the two Chaplow goals when Ryan Shawcross sent a header against the outside of a post.

But the best chance came after 48 minutes when Liam Lawrence looked certain to score from a few yards out but delayed his shot and then saw it blocked.

There were other misses, notably by strikers Ricardo Fuller and Mamady Sidibe, but there could be no question that Preston deserved the win.

Chaplow, who could eventually cost Preston £1.35million, was recalled to the starting line-up in place of Darren Carter who made the move from West Bromwich six months earlier. Chaplow was in the right place at the right time for that close-range opener, when Youl Mawene headed down a free-kick from captain Paul McKenna.

He was outside the penalty area when McKenna found him again from a free kick and he drove hard and low with the right foot.

He should have completed his hat-trick on the hour when he moved on to a low cross from Karl Hawley but shot wide from six yards. Seconds later he was substituted to rapturous applause and replaced by Carter.

Irvine said: 'His running with the ball and without the ball makes it very difficult for people to stick with him. He has a tight hamstring and had already indicated that he needed to come off but I don't think that was anything to do with him missing that chance. This is a massive win against a really good team.'

West Bromwich and Watford were earlier victims at Deepdale this year and Irvine added: 'We have to take this approach into games against all the teams.'

Stoke central defender Leon Cort was taken off on a stretcher after 69 minutes and a broken ankle was feared at first, but their manager Tony Pulis is hopeful that X-rays today will show no break.

Pulis said: 'I'll have nightmares over the chances we've had and not taken. We could have scored seven. We've had five one-on-ones with the goalkeeper. These things happen. We just have to make sure they don't happen too often.'