Stoke City boss Tony Pulis is confident his England prospects Ryan Shawcross and Matthew Etherington will come back more determined next season.

Etherington's form had some suggesting he may be rewarded with an England call-up ahead of the World Cup, just like Shawcross.

But like his Stoke team-mate, Etherington's momentum was stalled by injury, denying him the opportunity to push himself into contention for a ticket to South Africa.

However, Pulis believes that despite those personal setbacks, his key duo will come back hungrier than ever next season.

"Like Ryan Shawcross, he's bound to be disappointed, and rightly so because both were desperately unlucky," said the Stoke boss.

"If they hadn't both got struck down by injury at just the wrong time earlier this year, who knows? But I'm confident that won't have any effect on them next season.

"They'll be just as keen to get out there and not only reproduce their best form from last season but improve on it.

"That's the challenge for both of them - and the rest of the lads if we are to build on our progress so far."