Stoke City boss Tony Pulis has hailed the leadership of skipper Ryan Shawcross in recent weeks.

He is delighted Shawcross, 25, has answered his call to get vocal.

Pulis said: "Ryan's grown up this year in an awful lot of respects, which is great to see. I had a chat with him the other day because Robert is not a great talker, so it's got to come from Ryan.

"I think he's waiting on Rob sometimes but he's got to take the lead and that's why he's captain."