Three new faces in the Stoke City squad as goals from Emre Tezgel and Niall Ennis set up a 3-0 win at Chester
Steven Schumacher was pleased to get a first 45 minutes in the legs of his three new signings as Stoke City won their opening friendly of pre-season against Chester.
Viktor Johansson, Ben Gibson and Eric Bocat all came through the opening half at the Deva Stadium before Schumacher changed his side entirely. By that point, Stoke were 2-0 up thanks to a brace from Emre Tezgel and they ended up winning by three thanks to a late goal from Niall Ennis.
“They looked sharp,” said Schumacher about his new boys. “Viktor had one or things to do and a couple of clearances when he was quick off his line. Eric has impressed us too since he’s been in. He’s missed a few days because he had to go home so it was good to get 45 minutes in his legs. It looks like he’s going to be a really good player and Ben Gibson, we all know what he’s all about. He’s a leader and was really calm and composed for us. I’m really pleased for them and I’m sure they enjoyed it.”
The squad had reported back for pre-season last week and is now heading to Cork for a week-long training camp, including a friendly against Cork.
“It was really good to get back out there,” said Schumacher. “All the players are always looking forward to the first pre-season game. It’s always a tough slog in the first seven to 10 days but when you get the games going you feel as if you’re rolling and I thought it was a decent game.
“I can honestly say the lads have been excellent. You can tell they’ve followed the off-season programme that Elliott (Turner) gave them in the summer. They came back in brilliant shape and their attitude for the first 10 days of pre-season has been excellent, culminating in this game. The way we applied ourselves in both halves was really good. We tried to play at a tempo as best we could on a decent pitch and conditions helped. We passed the ball really well at times. We would have liked to have scored more but it was a decent night.”