TONY PULIS today stressed that the only result which concerns him over the next three weeks is the one on the opening day of the Barclays Premier League season at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
City's manager takes his first team squad to local non-league side Newcastle Town this weekend where they suffered an upset in last season's pre-season build-up by losing 2-1 at Lyme Park.
Newcastle, who achieved promotion to Division One South of the Evo-Stik League in record-breaking fashion last season, will be hoping to repeat that success in this year's fixture on Saturday.
In putting the significance of pre-season games into perspective, Pulis would accept a repeat of the outcome if it proved to be the forerunner to another season of progress in the Premier League.
"We lost at Newcastle last year and went on to finish eleventh in the Premier League which was a fantastic improvement upon the previous season," he said. "So I'd settle for us being beaten by them again this time around if we went on to finish tenth in the coming season.
"I will never take much out of pre-season games other than the fact that it is an opportunity to get the players in the best possible physical condition for the season ahead."
He added: "I can remember one year when we had a dreadful pre-season build-up when we lost our final match 4-2 at Rhyll. We were absolutely useless and yet we went to Derby County, who were favourites to get promoted under John Gregory, and we won 3-0 at Pride Park.
"These matches are all about getting the players fit and getting them ready for the first League match of the season, so the result at Wolves is the only one that concerns me."
City opened their pre-season programme with a goalless draw at League One newcomers Notts County on Thursday evening, while another Potters side overcame local non-league side Nantwich Town 2-1 with a brace from young striker Louis Moult at the Weaver Stadium.
Pulis has a couple of injury concerns following those matches with Asmir Begovic picking up a dead leg in the game at Meadow Lane and Ibrahima Sonko injuring a foot at Nantwich.
The game against Newcastle Town kicks off at 2.30pm at Lyme Park and we will have regular updates from that match here on stokecityfc.com.
A limited number of seats are available at £9.00 and £7.00 for concessions, while other admission prices are £7.00 for adults and £6.00 for concessions.
