Stoke striker Crouch happying to be playing again in Europe

Stoke City striker Peter Crouch was delighted to be on the mark in their Europa League win at Maccabi Tel Aviv.

The goal was Crouch's 21st in European competition, while his England record, an impressive 22 goals in 42 games, also demonstrates the 30-year-old's prowess on the continental and international stage.

"I'm very proud of my European record and my England goals," said Crouch. "I always seem to do well on foreign grounds.

"I don't know what it is because people see me on TV so the way I play isn't going to be a shock to them. But I certainly do enjoy playing in European games and long may it continue.

"I was just pleased to get the goal and I thought we won it quite comfortably all in all. It goes some way to getting over the disappointment of the way we played against Newcastle.

"We have come to Israel against a side who don't lose many at home and picked up a really good result. This was important because if we had lost we may have gone into the Bolton game a little bit down.

"We've got to take confidence from that and hopefully be firing on all cylinders on Sunday."