Stoke City Football Club News

• Nickname:Potters
• Founded:1863
• Manager:Tony Pulis

• Ground:Britannia Stadium
• Capacity:28,218

Fuller set for lengthy lay-off

08 Feb 2009 - 12:02:41

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Stoke City boss Tony Pulis has admitted he is fearing the worst for Ricardo Fuller after losing the striker to a dislocated shoulder during the 2-0 defeat at Sunderland.

The Potters were forced to make three substitutions within the first 30 minutes at the Stadium of Light after seeing Fuller, Ryan Shawcross and Andy Wilkinson all retire through injury.

But of the trio, Pulis fears most for leading scorer Fuller who now looks set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

"The ball isn't running for us away from home at the moment and I'm struggling to put my finger on it," he told the club's official website.

"We lost three players to injury early on and we think Ricardo could be out for three months or so with his shoulder.

"Ryan's back seized up and Andy couldn't feel the inside of his foot so I was forced into all of those substitutions early on.

"We were hoping to bring Liam Lawrence and Henri (Camara) on in the second half and open the game up a little bit but with what happened I couldn't do that."

Meanwhile, Pulis claimed the decision to send off Matthew Etherington for appearing to kick out at Danny Collins was incorrect and proved to be the turning point in the game.

He added: "The decision changed it without a doubt. We were dangerous before that and I'm convinced we'd have picked up at least a point from the game.

"For me it certainly wasn't a sending off offence, possibly a yellow card at the very worst.

"We will have a look at it and see whether we will appeal."