There's No Cracking These Potters

Vintage Jags and rookie Taylor give Stoke a solid look for the play-offs...

- Jason Mellor

Taylor harwood-bellis wasn’t born when Phil Jagielka made his debut way back at the start of the millennium.

But two players at the opposite end of football’s age spectrum might hold the key to rekindling Stoke’s promotion aspirations.

The central defenders both stood out in their first game – 19-year-old Harwood-Bellis on loan from Manchester City, Jagielka thanks to Derby’s ongoing financial meltdown.

The Rams were blocked by the EFL in their bid to extend the evergreen 39-year-old’s contract, and Stoke wisely stepped in to hand the England centre-half a deal until the end of the season.