Stoke City produced one of their more controlled home performances of the season, beating Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 at the bet365 Stadium through goals from Jesurun Rak-Sakyi and Lamine Cisse. The result extended Stoke's unbeaten home run to five matches and kept them in mid-table, 10 points adrift of the play-off places.
Wednesday arrived backed by more than 3,200 travelling supporters and with a plan to stay compact, but Henrik Pedersen's side offered little attacking threat for long spells. Sorba Thomas was the game's most influential player, creating the opener and helping to force the second as Stoke dominated territory, possession, and chances.
A moving pause and a one-sided opening
Stoke carried the early threat, with Cisse steering a shot wide after racing onto Rak-Sakyi's inviting pass. A poignant pause then came in the eighth minute, when all four stands rose to applaud young Stoke fan Oliver Royles, who died last month at the age of eight after a battle with cancer.