STOKE City boss Tony Pulis acknowledged that his team were beaten by a far superior side and that he envies Joe Royle's ability to call on so much home-grown talent, writes Derek Davis.

STOKE City boss Tony Pulis acknowledged that his team were beaten by a far superior side and that he envies Joe Royle's ability to call on so much home-grown talent, writes Derek Davis.

City had not conceded a goal for 400 minutes until Shefki Kuqi's finish shattered that run and Pulis conceded: "Ipswich were far and away superior to us until they scored. It was only then that we started to give them a game. We had good opportunities without hitting the target.

"The difference was Darren Bent gets the ball and smacks it from outside the box and our Steve Simonsen has to make a good save.

"Carl Asaba for us has had three good chances but he has blazed the ball wide."

Although only one goal separated the sides, the gulf in class was huge and Pulis puts the difference between the teams down to resources.

He said: "We are what we are, a decent group of lads at this level whose biggest thing is honesty. They show that week after week and we went into the game to give it our best shot.

"We created some good openings but never managed to hit the target. Just compare our resources at Stoke with those at Ipswich.

"As a manager you are dealt a deck of cards and have to do your best with what you have got. Joe Royle is fortunate at Ipswich that so many good players have emerged through their Academy to mix with the senior players."

The City manager also bemoaned having to make a four-hour coach journey on the night after drawing at home and called for the return of local derbies over holiday periods.

He said: "I'm not one of these who complains about the Christmas or Easter programme. I enjoy the Christmas programme as I always did as a player.

"My bone of contention is having to drive all the way from Stoke on one of our longest journeys to play just two days after meeting Preston.

"I just don't know why we can no longer play local derbies before bumper crowds. The stewarding and policing is so good these days that there is no longer any trouble.

"So why the hell can't we play against Crewe or Wolves? I don't understand. Hopefully the Football League will rectify that."

Pulis is hoping to sign West Ham's Bobby Zamora in the next few days to try and bolster his impotent attack which has managed just four goals in 12 games and just 18 all season.