Alex Neil delight as new signings help Stoke hammer Rotherham in Carabao Cup

Stoke ran out 6-1 winners to book their spot in the third round.

Pa Sport Staff
Tuesday 29 August 2023 17:44 EDT
Stoke manager Alex Neil saw his side thrash Rotherham (Bradley Collyer/PA)
Stoke manager Alex Neil saw his side thrash Rotherham (Bradley Collyer/PA) (PA Wire)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Stoke manager Alex Neil was delighted with his new recruits as full debutants Wouter Burger and Mehdi Leris got on the scoresheet in a 6-1 Carabao Cup thrashing of Rotherham.

The second-round win extends the Potters’ perfect home record to four matches in all competitions this season – a run that started with a 4-1 victory over the Millers on the opening day of the new Championship campaign.

Burger, signed from FC Basel, opened the scoring early on, while Leris, brought in from Sampdoria, completed the rout in the 72nd minute.

“I think it’s important that obviously we try and maintain our home form, which has been good, and it’s nice to score a lot of goals,” Neil said.

“It’s nice to get a lot of new fellas on the pitch as well.

“We’re still in that transitional period where we’re getting boys in and trying to get them on the pitch.

“But we scored some great goals.

“I think to start it, Wout getting his first goal, sort of set us on our way.”

Stoke took a second-minute lead when Burger drove home from distance after picking up Cameron Humphreys’ headed clearance.

Summer signing Ryan Mmaee doubled the home side’s advantage in the 18th minute, bending the ball from Leris’ pull back.

Rotherham skipper Sean Morrison’s header swiftly halved the deficit, but Stoke restored their two-goal lead just before the half-hour mark as captain Josh Laurent arrowed a shot into the bottom corner.

The advantage was further increased as half-time approached, with Tyrese Campbell curling the ball in off the crossbar.

Any slender hopes the visitors had of staging a comeback were dashed in the 55th minute, when Laurent latched onto Campbell’s headed pass and rifled the ball into the net for his second goal, and Leris made it 6-1 with a fine finish 18 minutes from time.

Rotherham boss Matt Taylor, who made six changes to the team that started the 2-1 defeat to Leicester on Saturday, had no arguments with the final scoreline.

“Regardless of the personnel we had on that pitch, I think some of the players can perform better than they did,” he said.

“We knew what Stoke were going to come with because we faced it three weeks ago in the first game of the season, and we still couldn’t match their speed and intensity.”

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in