The Stoke City under-21 team defeated Reading 5-1 thanks to a hat-trick from Emre Tezgel.

In an attempt to impress new manager Mark Robins, the 19-year-old striker did himself no hurt by leading the junior Potters to victory on a stormy Berkshire night. As he attempts to win back his reputation or draw in a suitor in the last stages of the January transfer window, Andre Vidigal also received two.

Bosun Lawal played for an hour, his longest appearance since a back problem was discovered when he signed with Celtic in the summer, while Ben Pearson completed another forty-five minutes, stepping up his comeback from a ten-month absence due to a hamstring injury. Overall, it was a promising evening.

Robins’ focus will be on goals as he looks for a winning recipe for the shot-shy Stoke, who will play their Championship rivals Hull in the bottom half on Saturday.

Jack Bonham, the backup goalie, also started for the under-21 team as Stoke used the game to give players who haven’t had much playing time lately some minutes. When the under-21 team plays Newcastle Town in the Staffordshire Senior Cup tonight at 7.30 p.m., they may use several players from the under-18 team.

On Friday evening, Dave Hibbert’s team will return to the road in Premier League 2 when they go to West Ham.