Striker Kenwyne Jones doubtful for Everton mission
By Martin Spinks (The Sentinel)
STOKE striker Kenwyne Jones will spend the next 48 hours under doctor's orders in a bid to make Saturday's trip to Everton following last night's Carling Cup exit at West Ham, writes Martin Spinks.
Jones played – and scored – with a high temperature in the fourth-round tie at Upton Park, but failed to last the pace and is now a major doubt for the weekend visit to Merseyside.
"It's a case of dusting the players down and getting them ready for Everton after the disappointment of losing a long match like this," said Pulis, pictured right, after last night's 3-1 extra-time defeat in East London.
"We're hoping Kenwyne and Jermaine Pennant will be all right because they were both feeling under the weather and had to come off.
"There has been something going around the camp. Kenwyne didn't really want to play, but I gave him a bit of a cuddle to get him out there.
"He felt very sweaty and cold. He said he'd had it over a week now, but he'd said nothing about it before."
Jones had given himself a shot in the arm by scoring his first goal for three matches early on, only for concerted West Ham pressure to be rewarded with Scott Parker's 84th-minute equaliser.
And the Hammers retained their ascendancy in extra-time to storm into the quarter-finals on the back of goals from Manuel da Costa and Victor Obinna.
"We got into some smashing positions to finish them off, but didn't do it," Pulis observed.
"I think if we'd got the second goal it would have been all over.
"I thought we were comfortable and played some smashing football in the first half, but our final ball was poor and we needed that second goal.
"They came at us second half, which you'd expect because it was a cup tie and they had nothing to lose.
"We worked very hard for 75 minutes and we tired a little bit at the end."
City have now lost three games on the bounce after conceding late on in games against Bolton, Manchester United and West Ham.
"We've been in the Premier League for two years, so we know there's highs and lows like this," Pulis added. "We've got tough games coming up, including quite a few away, but they are a great group of players."
Ricardo Fuller, Matthew Etherington and Danny Collins all remain under treatment ahead of the visit to Everton after being forced to sit out last night's defeat.
