Stoke City 2-0 Preston North End: Jack McGlynn stars in Potters win
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Stoke City and Preston North End at the bet365 Stadium on Saturday; Jack McGlynn assists one and scores one in Potters victory.
Saturday 31 October 2026 15:46, UK
Stoke continued their impressive run in the Championship with a 2-0 home victory over basement side Preston.
Goals from Ben Wilmot and Jack McGlynn did the damage as Mark Robins' in-form team claimed a seventh win in their last 10 league games.
Centre-back Wilmot put the hosts ahead with a powerful 29th-minute header from McGlynn's pinpoint cross.
Then United States midfielder McGlynn got in on the scoring act himself with a sweet left-foot strike that doubled the Potters' advantage eight minutes after the restart.
Defeat for the struggling Lilywhites, who remain rooted to the foot of the table, was their fourth in five league games since appointing Graham Alexander as Paul Heckingbottom's successor.
Slovakian striker Robert Bozenik, the one change to the home side's team, had a penalty appeal turned down after just five minutes after going down following a tussle with Odel Offiah.
The hosts went close in the 14th minute when Ben Johnson dragged a left-foot shot agonisingly wide of the right post.
At the other end, former Potter Jordan Thompson went close with a powerful left-foot free-kick from the edge of the box that flew into the side-netting.
Wilmot then had to receive treatment for a bad cut above his right eye, but it mattered not as the towering centre-back scored soon after with a fine header from McGlynn's perfect delivery.
McGlynn whipped the ball in after it fell invitingly to him from a corner and Wilmot rose well to power into the top-right corner for his second goal of the season.
McGlynn came close to doubling the Potters' lead five minutes before the break, but his powerful deflected left-foot strike was brilliantly saved by Preston shot-stopper Daniel Iversen.
Stoke flew out of the blocks after the break and Bozenik came close to poking home at the near post from Luca Bombino's pass, before Luke Graham headed inches wide after former Stoke loanee Iversen missed a punched clearance.
But a second goal was just around the corner and Ethan Galbraith teed up McGlynn to rifle home from close range to leave the visitors with plenty to do in search of a first win in nearly two months.
Bozenik should have put the contest out of sight but was thwarted in a one-on-one situation with Iversen, while Galbraith saw his goalbound shot deflected for a corner and Justin Devenny had a shot cleared off the line as the hosts went for the jugular.
Substitute Million Manhoef wasted a glorious chance to make it 3-0, when he somehow shot wide from point-blank range with three minutes left.
- Watch FREE Championship highlights | Latest EFL news and rumours
- Not got Sky? Latest Sky Sports deals or stream EFL games with no contract📺
The managers
Stoke's Mark Robins:
"We've got to be happy with the performance overall, but we've got to be happy with the result.
"But it would have been more if we had been clinical. There was a lot to like about it [the performance].
"They're [the squad] really good and young. They still don't understand that yet though, what they can do, but I'm excited about the group.
"It was an emotional game anyway with is being a Remembrance Day game, so we've got to maintain that focus on the back of all the traditional stuff before the game."
Preston's Graham Alexander:
"It was a performance that got away from us, goals win games at the end of the day. We have to be a goal threat and score goals.
"I thought we started the game well and were competitive, but the players were determined to turn things around at half-time.
"We responded well to the goal we conceded, but there's obviously a confidence issue. That would be stating the obvious, though.
"But you can still be a competitive team without confidence and you can still do the basics right."
