Stoke City 2 Wanderers 1 EIDUR Gudjohnsen is ready to pit his young wits against the best of Division One defences, undeterred by the memory of his Wembley misses.

The confident young Icelander showed no signs of a hangover as he got straight back to goalscoring business at Stoke on Saturday . . . just 47 days after Wanderers' Premiership dreams were shattered by Watford in the Play-off Final.

But he knows he'll be closely shackled this time round after enjoying late season success as the surprise guy of the promotion push that ended in heartbreak.

"I was doing quite well towards the end of last season," the 20-year-old striker said, reflecting on his impressive five-goal flourish in just 15 appearances.

"But nobody really knew about me then. Obviously, after scoring a few goals, you get recognised a bit more. This time last year I hadn't even signed yet!

Pedestrian friendly

"Getting the goal was good. It's always nice to get on the scoresheet."

Colin Todd was delighted to see his prodigy on target in the first of five warm-up games in preparation for the serious business, which kicks off at Tranmere on August 7, despite the game ending in defeat.

"Eidur might have looked back on last season and the missed chances at Wembley," the manager acknowledged, "but it hasn't affected him and it won't affect him.

"He knows the coming season can be another step for him in the right direction but he's going to be a marked man, as he was beginning to be at the end of last season. The challenge is there for him."

Gudjohnsen, whose two gilt-edged first half chances could have made all the difference in the Play-off showdown, had one shot well saved by ex-Wanderers' keeper Gavin Ward before he rounded off a neat, incisive move by Michael Johansen and Bo Hansen with a stunning right-footer to give Todd's men a 36th minute lead on their first visit to the Britannia Stadium.

Disappointing defensive lapses - typical of last season's failings and a problem that will need addressing if they are to become a force again - saw Paul Connor and Dean Crowe grab two goals in two minutes midway through the second half before Carl Muggleton's reflex save from a Bob Taylor header secured the spoils for Stoke in a pedestrian friendly.

But it wasn't the result that had the alarm bells ringing on an afternoon which kicked off with the stadium being evacuated for a quarter-of-an-hour because of a fire scare.

Todd, who went into the game with two of his three senior goalkeepers sidelined, always planned to ring the changes but he hadn't legislated for three of his defenders limping off nor, on a day when he fielded his entire travelling squad of 21, his team being reduced to 10 men for the last 10 minutes. Only Hasney Aljofree and the black-booted Ricardo Gardner completed the full 90 minutes!

Encouragement

Neil Cox (ankle), Paul Warhurst (hamstring) and trialist Juan Cobian (foot) will all need treatment and fitness checks before Wanderers continue their warm-up programme at Blackpool on Wednesday.

Nevertheless, the manager saw encouragement in the attitude of his players and, in particular, with the first half performance when they were at their most fluent. "I wasn't looking at the result, I was more concerned with seeing how the players performed after last season's disappointments," he explained.

"I wouldn't say there were any hangovers, which is a good sign.

"Even in training I've seen that the lads are focused, which is what I'm looking for. This was typical of an early pre-season game. It was played at walking pace but that's not surprising considering it's not much more than a month since we finished and we're only 10 days into our pre-season work!

"We'll get better pictures as the games go along." Wanderers (4-4-2): Jaaskelainen; Cox, Bergsson, Todd, Whitlow; Johansen, Jensen, Aljofree, Gardner; Gudjohnsen, Hansen. Subs: Cobian (for Cox 25 mins), Phillips (for Whitlow h-t), Warhurst (for Todd h-t), Elliott (for Johansen h-t), Strong (for Bergsson h-t), Taylor (for Gudjohnsen h-t), Holdsworth (for Hansen h-t), Morrison (for Cobian h-t), Staton (for Jensen 64 mins), Glennon (for Jaaskelainen 83 mins).

Stoke (5-3-2 then 4-4-2): Ward; Kavanagh (J), Sigurdsson, Petty, Mohan, Small; O'Connor, Kavanagh (G), Oldfield; Lightbourne, Crowe. Subs: Muggleton (for Ward h-t), Cartwright (for Petty h-t), Taaffe (for Oldfield h-t), Mackenzie (for Kavanagh (G) h-t), Robinson (for O'Connor h-t), Connor (for Lightbourne h-t), Woolliscroft (for Small 77 mins).

Referee: P Dowd (Biddulph).

Attendance: 2,921.

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