Ben Pearson and Bosun Lawal will both be mentally and physically better for an extended first team run out, Mark Robins hopes.
Pearson (hamstring) made his first senior appearance for 11 months when he came off the bench in the 73rd minute against Cardiff in the FA Cup on Saturday. Lawal (back) came on in the 87th minute before nine minutes of injury time, 30 minutes’ extra-time and a penalty shoot-out.
Midfielder Pearson, aged 30, had previously come through two 45-minute outings for Stoke under-21s as he makes his way back while versatile Lawal, aged 21, has been building up his game time with the 21s and made a trio of first team cameos.
Robins knows he has to manage their minutes to get them into a position where they can be used more and more during a crucial period of the season.
He said: “It’s difficult isn’t it because you want to try to win the game in normal time. There was a chance it was going to extra-time so can they get through that?
“I think it can do them the world of good, to be fair. From a mental point of view they played a game, got the minutes, and hopefully they came through it both physically and mentally stronger for it and more ready to step on going forward.”
He added: “Pearo getting nearly an hour under his belt was a bonus. He was due to play 20 minutes but he played that time plus the added on time plus extra-time as well.
“Bosun, coming back from a lengthy lay off, got some minutes in three positions. That’s good for him and we saw bits that showed what he’s capable of doing so I’m looking forward to seeing more of that, particularly how he can drive through. He’s really powerful and if he can show that more often then we’ve got a player on our hands.”
Stoke were also without Andrew Moran, Ben Wilmot, Lynden Gooch, Sam Gallagher, Million Manhoef, Sol Sidibe, Eric Bocat and Jordan Thompson due to injury against Cardiff while Nathan Lowe and Ali Al-Hamadi were cup tied.
Ben Gibson played for the first time since Boxing Day, Emre Tezgel made his first start since August and Jack Bonham and Andre Vidigal started for the first time since a cup tie at Southampton in October, which for both was their only other start this season.
Robins, who takes Stoke to Bristol City in the league on Wednesday (7.45pm), said: “Everyone understands where we’re at and that we’ve got a lot of players who have been out for a long period of time and we need them back in and back fit quickly.
“The other side of it, we had Favour Fawunmi who signed on Friday, come in and played the last half an hour of normal time and extra-time and he had a whirlwind week, both him and Ruben Curley, who joined from Manchester United. Those two had a little bit of exposure to the first team and Favour showed in glimpses what he’s capable of doing.
“Emre Tezgel made his first start since August, which will have been difficult but he gave everything, was involved in a goal and could have had one or two himself.”
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