Full-back injuries give Robins puzzle to solve

Stoke's draw with Preston was a game that embodied the first half of the Potters season.

Really good up to the final third, where they didn't create enough to take an additional two points from the Championship's draw specialists, Preston North End.

Mark Robins, his players, Stoke fans and pundits alike have spent weeks speaking about the need for a sharper cutting edge to turn a season of promise into achievement.

The newer talking point coming out of this game was the sudden loss of all of the Potters' recognised full-backs.

Eric Bocat missed the game with injury, Junior Tchamadeu is away with Cameroon at AFCON, and now Aaron Cresswell faces time out after limping off against Preston.

With only two days to prepare for another game at home against Sheffield United, Stoke boss Robins has a headache to contend with.

That's probably not enough time to embed a change of system properly with enough centre-backs available to make a change to a back three plausible on paper.

Bosun Lawal offers some dynamism as a makeshift right-back but definitely fits into the category marked square peg in round hole, while on the left, it was down to Ben Gibson to fill in.

He acquitted himself well but he is a centre-back by trade and doesn't attack with the same threat of any of the players he's trying to replace.

Without the overlapping or underlapping presence Tchamadeu provides, and the quality of delivery that Cresswell offers, the dynamic of Stoke's attack changes so profoundly, making overloads on either wing so much harder to obtain.

How Robins solves that problem while continuing to improve Stoke's attacking threat will define the next few games.