Tony Pulis paid tribute to his players after they gained a vital victory at Coventry City on Saturday.

The Potters came from behind to win 2-1 at the Ricoh Arena which, thanks to other results, sent City back to the top of the Championship.

The Stoke boss reserved special praise for his deadly duo, Ricardo Fuller and Liam Lawrence, who scored a goal apiece.

Speaking exclusively to Stoke City World, Pulis said: "When you have him and Fuller on the pitch, we are a much better side.

"They've been the two most productive goal scorers for us this year."

Lawrence came off the bench to score the winner amidst doubt about his fitness, but Pulis believes he made the right decision.

"Dave (Kemp) came to speak to me when I came out at half time.

"He said be careful with Liam, as we had already lost two players to hamstring injuries so the last thing we want to do is lose Liam with his groin.

"Despite that fact Kempy was confident Liam would get 20-30 minutes and I took the chance because I thought we needed him."

Pulis also paid tribute to Mama Sidibe, who replaced the injured Shola Ameobi in the first half, and gave Stoke an added dimension to their play.

"We've got front players at the football club.

"A lot of people criticise Mama at this football club but he came on and again gave us the energy and edge that we needed.

"We really got on our front foot and that was more like us.

"We're the better team when we're pushing up and playing off our front players."

The February manager of the month believed a tactical change at half time was a key factor in the Potters victory.

"I felt first half we allowed Hughes and the two full backs too much room on the ball. We never pushed up on them at all.

"We really wanted Cresswell, Pearson and Shola to push and make sure we pressed them early.

"Unfortunately we sat back a little bit and were a little bit tentative.

"The best thing to happen for us was half time where we sorted it out a little bit and in the second half we pushed the two wide men up a little bit further, we got Mama to drop off Ric to give him a little more room to run up the sides, and it kept Hughes quiet.

"We murdered them second half."

Pulis has defended his side after their recent form, which before the Coventry game had seen City pick up just one win from their last seven games.

Pulis said: "I don't think there's been many defeats and I think a lot of the games that we've drawn we could easily have won.

"There are thin margins between success and failure and I think it's important to realise that and recognise it and not worry about other people say.

"We've had had to concentrate on what we're doing and I think the players did on Saturday.

"I think we deserved to win and we are back in the groove now."

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