Championship side Stoke City travel to Ireland to take on Cork City at Turners Cross in a pre-season friendly on Wednesday evening.
While the Potters are preparing for their second pre-season match, Cork are two-thirds of the way through their 2024 league campaign.
Match preview
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Stoke kicked off their pre-season programme with a comfortable 3-0 win over National League North outfit Chester at Deva Stadium last Thursday.
A first-half brace from 18-year-old Emre Tezgel was followed by a late second-half strike from fellow attacker Niall Ennis to help the Potters pick up from where they left off at the end of last season.
Stoke were languishing in the bottom half of the Championship for much of the 2023-24 campaign, with head coach Steven Schumacher at one stage allegedly at risk of losing his job. However, the Potters collected 10 points from their final four matches, winning each of their last three, to climb away from danger and up to 17th place.
Schumacher was pleased with the way that his players applied themselves on a "really positive night" against Chester and will hope that his Stoke side can build positive momentum in friendlies against Cork, Crewe Alexandra, Stockport County, Bolton Wanderers and AZ Alkmaar ahead of their opening league game of 2024-25 at home to Coventry City on August 10.
As for Cork, they have put themselves firmly in the driving seat to win the League of Ireland First Division title and secure promotion back to the top flight at the first time of asking, as they boast a 15-point lead over their nearest challengers Athlone Town with 12 games remaining.
The Rebel City extended their winning run to five matches when they secured a slender 1-0 home victory over Finn Harps last Friday, courtesy of a second-half strike from 17-year-old Cathal O'Sullivan - his fifth goal of the campaign.
Tim Clancy's side have lost just one league games out of 24 this season, scoring a league high 39 goals and conceding a league-low nine goals, while they also kept their 15th clean sheet of the campaign in the win against Finn Harps.
Cork will do battle with Finn Harps again in their next competitive match in the second round of the FAI Cup on Saturday, but they must first shift their focus to Wednesday's friendly clash with Stoke, who won 2-0 the last time that these two sides met in July 2022.
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Team News
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Stoke boss Schumacher named two different lineups for each half in the friendly win over Chester, using 22 players in total, and he is set to do the same on Wednesday.
Frank Fielding and Nathan Lowe will hope to feature in some capacity after watching on as unused substitutes last time out, while Irishman Enda Stevens and new signings Ben Gibson, Viktor Johansson and Eric Junior Bocat are all set to be involved.
As for Cork, Tim Clancy will weigh up whether to select a strong lineup or opt to make a few changes and freshen up his side, with one eye on their domestic campaign.
Jack Doherty is the club's top scorer so far this season with seven goals and he could be handed a start in the number 10 role, while captain Cian Coleman, Greg Bolger, Barry Coffey and Malik Dijksteel are among those also in contention to start.
Cork City possible starting lineup:
Wade; Crowley, Coleman, Lyons, McLauglin, Coffey, Bolger, O'Sullivan, Doherty, Drinan, Dijksteel
Stoke City possible starting lineup:
Johansson; Gooch, Rose, Wilmot, Stevens, Sidibe, Laurent, Johnson, Leris, Vidigal, Tezgel
We say: Cork City 1-3 Stoke City
Although Cork are flying high on the domestic front and have put together a strong run of form, they will enter Wednesday's contest as the underdogs against a Stoke outfit who should have few problems coming away from Ireland with a victory, as they did two years ago.
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Oliver Thomas
