Stoke City boss Tony Pulis was delighted with their Europa League victory at Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Stoke were always in the ascendancy and broke the deadlock through Dean Whitehead in the 51st minute, with substitute Peter Crouch tapping in the midfielder's cross 13 minutes later.

Maccabi grabbed a late consolation through Roberto Colautti but Pulis was in no doubt the Potters deserved their victory.

The Welshman said: "I thought the lads were brilliant tonight. The balance looked good. The three centre-halves were very solid. There was a bit of a lapse at the end but that's a little bit of tiredness I think.

"I'm very pleased. They huffed and puffed a little bit but I thought we coped with it smashing."