Town boss Joe Royle admitted that luck was on his team's side when Keith Andrews' late effort struck both posts, however he felt his team deserved their 1-0 victory.

Royle said: "We had that bit of luck but we'll take it because had we not won it would have been a travesty.

"Stoke must be the biggest team in Britain, they are organised, strong and hard to break down.

"After our last game when we scored six against Burnley people were expecting a repeat. We had the chances to score four or five and it took fantastic save from their goalkeeper to prevent Tommy Miller from scoring what would have been one of the goals of the season."

Royle felt that the incident where Tommy Miller was felled on the edge of the Stoke box in the second half wasn't a spotkick, the Blues' boss feeling the midfielder had lost his footing: "Tommy slipped. It was no penalty."

Town lost Alan Mahon early on with a torn hamstring and Royle says his side will be on the sidelines for a while: "He will be out for five or six weeks so we will have to do without him for a while. We took time to readjust.

"Miller came on in need of a game as it was only his second outing in six or seven weeks.

"Jim Magilton did not return for the second half because his calf was solid because he had so much fluid on it. His leg is raised and surrounded by ice packs and he must be doubtful for our matches next week."

Stoke boss Tony Pulis was impressed with Town: "Ipswich are a good side and probed all day. Neil Cutler came in as goalkeeper at short notice when Ed de Goey went down with flu. Neil made some fine saves but that's what he's paid to do.

"When you are 1-0 down you always have a chance of getting something out of the game. We had opportunities from the time Carl Asaba missed early on to when Keith Andrews hit the woodwork at the end.

"We had players missing and with a squad our size we had a quarter of the team out.

"The positives are that some of our young players have done well again. Our home form has been OK, but away from home we have been conceding poor goals."

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