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Stoke City 2-0 Huddersfield: Paul Lambert winning start as goals from Joe Allen and Mame Biram Diouf

At his Tuesday unveiling, Paul Lambert said he did not care if he was ‘fifteenth or fiftieth’ choice for the Stoke City job. After a rousing second-half performance secured an instant impact for the Glaswegian, the Potters supporters who slated his appointment may well share those emotions. The bet365 stadium on a freezing January afternoon did not seem like an obvious place for a party, especially after a turgid opening stanza best forgotten. But goals from Joe Allen and Mame Diouf – and a clean sheet rarer than rocking horse droppings in these parts – had them dancing in its aisles. Not that Lambert, whose side clambered out of the relegation zone, until Sunday afternoon at least, was in the mood for hitting the town.