James Beattie thoroughly enjoyed scoring a brace against the Pompey fans whose taunts emanate from his days as a Southampton player. The pleasure was tempered by the late equaliser scored by Portsmouth that denied Stoke what would have been a vital three points in the battle to stay in the Premier League.

 

"The Portsmouth fans are always going to voice their opinion about me, because of my Southampton days. Things haven't changed. I've got a good record against Portsmouth so I enjoy it if they want to give me some stick. It just makes me play better, but they don't seem to have worked it out yet!"

Beattie is still positive about the prospects of playing top level football at the Britannia Stadium next season but boss Tony Pulis could not hide his disappointment at two dropped points. Leading 2-1 going into injury time, he expressed his exasperation at ’switching off’ to allow the south coast side to grab a point at the death. He also admitted not seeing the penalty decision which have the Potters the lead but was grateful for the chance to draw level shortly after conceding.