Spanish winger Albert Riera acknowledged there was an air of despondency inside the dressing room following the 0-0 stalemate with Stoke at the weekend. "Saturday showed me the character of this team," Riera told the club's official website.

"When I walked into the dressing room after the game everyone was devastated that we had only drawn a difficult away game.

"Stoke have a very good record at home and lots of teams have struggled to beat them at the Britannia Stadium, but we are top of the league and we had hoped to go there and win.

"But we will remember this feeling and we will give everything for it not to happen again."