This story first appeared in The Sentinel on October 20, 2008

STOKE star Ricardo Fuller has been ordered to catch up on his sleep after the bleary-eyed striker overslept and reported late for City’s crucial 2-1 win over Tottenham.

But manager Tony Pulis will not be disciplining his leading scorer after sympathising with the club and country demands placed on the weary Jamaican following his latest trip to the Carribean.

Fuller made amends for his wayward time-keeping by producing a superb cameo from the bench in which he would have netted his fourth goal of the season had a 95th-minute penalty not hit two posts and a 101st minute shot not rattled the bar.

“He was late for training yesterday and then late turning up for the game,” Pulis revealed.

“He has problems getting back to England and then struggles with sleeping, so he’s almost had two days of being awake.

“We had to pull him out of training because he was tired – and he didn’t hear his alarm call before the game.

“But then he plays half-an-hour and lights the place up. We need him fit and up and running, especially at our place, because the fans idolise him.”

Fuller had been a 56-minute replacement for Dave Kitson, but Pulis played down the struggling striker’s failure to acknowledge either himself or his replacement when being subbed for a seventh successive league fixture by saying: “I didn’t notice that.”

Pulis also shrugged off the significance of yesterday’s second league win of the season by declaring: “Every win is important in the Premiership.

“It was a big game for us in respect of coming back to the Britannia and putting a performance in.

Pulis said a few choice words at half-time helped fire Stoke back into life after they had seen Danny Higginbotham’s 19th minute penalty cancelled out by Darren Bent’s equaliser for 10-man Spurs.Gareth Bale was sent off after felling Tom Soares to concede the penalty, and Pulis said: “I thought we did really well in the first 15 minutes, got the goal, but from then up until half-time we were very poor.

“We were like rabbits trapped in headlights after they went down to 10 men. We were garbage.

“The best thing for us was half-time so we could get stuck into them. We had to sort one or two things out and one or two players out in terms of their mind set.

“Supporters at this club expect their team to roar around, make their tackles and get in their (opponents’) faces, but we sat off them.

“We just pushed people on an extra 20 yards up the pitch to engage them and we caused them a lot of problems second half when we did that.

“In the second half they were fantastic and it was a fantastic game with plenty of chances.”

The game was won by a fine move climaxing with Rory Delap’s close-range finish.Tottenham finished with nine men after also having Michael Dawson sent off late on for a nasty challenge on Mama Sidibe.

Central defender Vedran Corluka was carried off after suffering concussion in a clash with his own goalkeeper.Stoke, meanwhile, lost their goalkeeper, Thomas Sorensen, with a cut forehead that required several stitches.Central defender Ibrahima Sonko returned to the starting line-up, but limped off with a groin injury which makes him a doubt for next Sunday’s trip to Manchester City.