SINGAPORE - A flying start by Stoke City provided the platform for a comfortable 2-0 victory against the Singapore Selection on Saturday night, the final day of the 2015 Barclays Asia Trophy.
The Potters, whose expertise at set-pieces was identified by opposing manager V. Sundramoorthy as a main threat, took the lead through a corner in the seventh minute at the National Stadium.
Striker Peter Crouch easily won the battle in the air and his looping header found teammate Steven Sidwell inside the box.
The midfielder made no mistake, slamming the ball past goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud.
The English club could have added a second in the 30th minute but winger Marko Arnautovic's volley was harshly ruled offside by the linesman.
Mark Hughes' team were almost made to pay for that when Singapore midfielder Safuwan Baharudin broke the offside trap in injury time but his attempted lob went narrowly wide of Shay Given's goal.
Senegal striker Mame Biram Diouf replaced Crouch for the second-half and almost doubled Stoke's lead but was denied by Izwan.
The Singapore stopper could do little though in the 73rd minute as Spanish left back Marc Muniesa's flick found Arnautovic inside the penalty area.
The Austrian cut in from left and curled the ball past a diving Izwan into the far corner to seal third spot in the pre-season competition for Stoke.
