Tony Pulis has paid tribute to his players after they moved to the top of the Championship with a superb 1-0 victory over Colchester United.

Richard Cresswell's first half goal was enough to secure maximum points in the final ever game to be staged at Layer Road and the City boss couldn't hide his delight.

"It was a smashing win but it was a difficult game with everything surrounding the game," he told Stoke City World.

"It is distractive and it is a difficult enough ground to come to anyway, but to have all the other stuff going on I thought our lads were absolutely magnificent.

"We have got to make sure we concentrate now and get the same attitude and the same application out of the players next week.

"The lads were first class like I said, and my only disappointment is that we didn't score more goals.

"There were three minutes of injury time where they threatened us but apart from that they never caused us any problems."

Results this afternoon mean the season hinges on the final day of the season at both the top and bottom of the Championship, and Pulis knows there is still a lot of hard work to be done.

"We know we have a difficult job as Leicester are fighting for their lives after getting beaten today.

"They will come needing to win as well so again what a fantastic game that will be.

"Hopefully we will do it next week, because there is no better place to celebrate than in front of a full house at the Britannia Stadium.

"We are three points clear of third with one game to go, and I believe we will do it."