Stoke City midfielder Liam Lawrence was relieved after they snatched victory over Middlesbrough, despite James Beattie squandering three excellent chances - including a simple opportunity with a header.

Lawrence said: "It was a horrible game but a massive result. That has put them in real trouble. It's 'dog eat dog' down there.

"To be honest, the tension can get to you a bit. You feel it. We knew it wasn't going to be pretty. To be fair to Boro, they played some nice stuff here and there and were the better side in the first half. We rely on our set pieces and eventually one came off again but we'd not had a lot of joy up to that point.

"Beatts (Beattie) is laughing in the dressing room now because the goal got him out of the mire for missing that great chance.

"To be fair, I'd have put my house on him scoring that one."