TheCable

Victor Moses put in a man-of-the-match performance on his Stoke City debut as two goals from Jon Walters and one from Peter Crouch saw off League Two side Portsmouth 3-0 in the Capital One Cup to set up a third-round trip to Sunderland.

Moses is on his second loan spell in successive seasons after a less-than-productive campaign at Liverpool having been deemed surplus to requirements at Chelsea, but his performance for the Potters in Thursday night’s game will gladden the heart of manager, Mark Hughes.

Now Hughes’ assistant Mark Bowen believes Stoke can provide the ideal platform for Moses to rediscover his talent.

“At the moment he is 99 per cent Premier League match fit and he tired a little bit in the second half and we brought him off to protect him,” said the Welshman.

“With all due respect to Portsmouth, he is used to playing against top-class defenders and causing them problems so it was maybe a tad easier for him tonight but he showed what he has got and always had and he just needs that platform.

“Mark (Hughes) wants to give him that chance to get used to playing every week. When players go a couple of years of not playing every week, they have to get used to that monotony of training every day to get ready for the games.

“It is no good for a player of his ability to just have cameo performances and hopefully we can give him the platform to do that this year.”

The next platform may well be at the Etihad Stadium this Saturday, when Stoke play Champions Manchester City in the Premier League.