Mark Robins pleased with depleted Stoke’s work ethic in the win at Norwich

Stoke manager Mark Robins praised the attitude of his side after they “put in a real shift” to win 2-0 at Norwich and register a second successive away win without conceding a goal.

The visitors followed up a 1-0 victory at Hull with another impressive success on the road that took them to within a point of the Championship play-off zone.

They took control after a poor first half and deservedly got their noses in front in the 75th minute.

Some superb work on the left saw Sorba Thomas beat his man and deliver an inch-perfect low cross for Sam Gallagher to convert from close range.

The points were wrapped up seven minutes later with a similar goal from the opposite flank.

This time Million Manhoef was the architect, latching onto a flick on and crossing for Thomas to apply a simple finishing touch.

“It was a difficult match to watch at times, with the ball being given away a lot, but I thought we were good value for it overall,” said Robins.

“In the second half I thought we were much better and scored two really good goals, going a bit more direct to get ourselves over the line.

“There was some good football in there but the most important thing was that the players put in a real shift, as they always do.

“We have a squad of 20 and seven were missing today but the players who were out there worked their socks off. As long as they put in 100 per cent effort that’s all I can ask, but today they’ve done brilliantly to find a way to win a football match.

“It’s been a really intensive spell and it will be good to have a break from league action for a couple of weeks to give as a chance to get a few back.”

Norwich struggled all afternoon, with Jovon Makama’s tame first-half header their only effort on target.

Matej Jurasek also had an effort ruled out for offside but the Canaries could have few complaints about the outcome on an afternoon when a point would have taken them out of the bottom three for the first time since October.

“I felt the game was in the balance in the first half and had we scored the first goal it could have been a different outcome,” said Norwich head coach Philippe Clement.

“We had some good moments but didn’t take advantage of them because of our insecurity. There was also a tight offside that went against us when we did get the ball in the net.

“In the second half I thought our level dropped, Stoke made a few changes that made them better and in the end they deserved to win the game.

“I didn’t see any laziness out there, players not wanting to do their job, but we were clearly not good enough in the second half.

“Now it is about us being stronger, learning from the pain and raising our levels again, both physically and mentally.”