Stoke & Staffordshire

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  1. A Barbary macaque monkey sits on the grass with a baby monkey between its arms. It is looking straight at the camera with what looks like an angry expression on its face.

  2. Port Vale defender Connor Hall in his training top during a warm-up

  3. The pub stands on the side of a road with a wooden board outside. It is painted a light colour with windows on the top and bottom levels.

  4. A women with brown hair, thick black rimmed glasses and a white t-shirt. She is looking at the camera smiling. in her arms is a new born baby girl who is also smiling.

  5. EFL match ball

  6. The Sprit of Falmouth sailing at sea in the sunset. It is a large ship with three sails and you can see the silhouettes of people aboard.

  7. A fire engine is stopped in the middle of a street, with a bus nearby which has flames emerging from it engine compartment. There are a number of people on the pavements either side of the street who are filming or photographing the scene on their phones.

  8. Martin stands infront of the county council building in Stafford on a sunny day, smiling at the camera. He is wearing a black suit and grey tie.

  9. A brown dog jumps through water in the sunshine. He has a blue collar on and its ears are raised as it runs.

  10. Food waste in an open bin, including bread, courgette slices and salad leaves. There is a wooden floor and the food is contained within a bag inside the bin.

  11. Manhoef says 'anything can happen' in run-in

    Stoke City's Million Manhoef punches the air in celebration after scoring against WatfordShutterstock

    Million Manhoef scored his sixth and seventh goals of the season in the win over Watford

    Stoke City forward Million Manhoef says "anything can still happen" over the remaining eight games of the Championship season as the Potters try to keep their hopes of making the play-offs alive.

    Stoke are nine points off the top six but took their unbeaten record at home to four games after dispatching Watford 3-1 on Saturday.

    Manhoef, who scored twice in the win, bagged his first goals since November.

    "I needed a goal," Manhoef told BBC Radio Stoke. "[They were] definitely some good goals and I was pleased for the team and pleased to contribute."

    The Dutch winger said he did not "want to go too high or go too low" over Stoke's goalscoring form, which has seen them notch 10 in their unbeaten run at the bet365 Stadium, including six in the last two games.

    "It's about the outcomes and [it's] definitely good that we scored some goals in the last couple of games," he said.

    "Hopefully we can continue that and also keep the track record of having a very good defensive side. So if we can go into the last eight games with a lot of attacking play and goals, that will be great. There's still eight games so anything can happen.

    "I just want to help the team, attacking-wise, defensively and get as many goals and assists as I can and we'll see where we end up."

    Stoke's last two results - a 3-3 draw with automatic-promotion chasing Ipswich Town and the victory over the Hornets - have coincided with the return of full-backs Eric Bocat and Junior Tchamadeu after injury.

    Previously forced to use centre-backs out wide, Manhoef said the return of right-back Tchamadeu on his flank makes a big difference.

    "I missed Junior a lot," he said. "I think we have a good connection, for me to go more narrow and he goes high and he's very good on the ball.

    "I did miss him a lot. So it's good that he's back and you can see it flows straight away.

    "I think it's just more natural when I play with him. I can play out wide and him inside and I could just go one for one.

    "We had centre-backs at right back so it's different for them but we worked through it and hopefully we can carry on this form."

  12. A woman with long brown hair in a dark red dress kissing a small girl with long brown hair

  13. The team, dressed in white T'shirts and black shorts, stand on a large, black podium with their medals around their necks with some waving.

  14. Darcy Leigh Jefferson, wearing a pink baby grow lying in a cot or moses basket

  15. Spencer is walking down a street and is wearing a brown coat a white shirt and a grey hat. He is also wearing glasses and has a brown beard.

  16. Jake Beesley, in Burton Albion's white change strip with gold pin stripes, celebrates with his team-mates at Northampton

  17. A woman with blonde hair sits in an oversized striped deckchair bearing the Lichfield Maize Maze logo. She is wearing a grey polo shirt, jeans and muddy wellington boots, and is smiling at the camera. Tall green maize plants grow closely behind the deckchair.

  18. Russell Kane, a man wearing a white t-shirt and a black jacket is gesticulating with his hands as he talks into a microphone. He is pictured against a brightly coloured backdrop which is yellow and has additional block colour elements.

  19. A black dog is standing close to an unidentified person in a blue jacket, and looking up towards their face.

  20. Port Vale boss Jon Brady on the touchline.

  21. Returning full-backs transforming Stoke's fortunes

    Mark Elliott
    BBC Radio Stoke’s Stoke City commentator

    Stoke City's Junior Tchamadeu and Watford's Giorgi Chakvetadze battling for the ball with the crowd in the backgroundShutterstock

    Full-backs, it turns out, are quite important.

    Stoke City have looked like a different team going forward, at least since the return to fitness of two of their natural full-backs in Eric Bocat and Junior Tchamadeu.

    Bocat regularly inverting high, almost as a number eight whilst still offering some width and covering defensively on the left helped Stoke break Oxford down a few weeks ago, whilst Tchamadeu has instantly resumed his position as one of the league's most dynamic and threatening right-backs since coming back from an injury suffered at AFCON with Cameroon.

    Both were good again against Watford and Stoke have had to be patient not to overuse either as they build up their fitness after injury.

    Aaron Cresswell, the club's other senior left-back, is out and at right-back the hole left by Tchamadeu was never successfully filled by a succession of centre-backs playing out of position.

    Maksym Talovierov never looked nearly as comfortable on the ball, Ben Wilmot lacked the athleticism to overlap with the same intensity and Bosun Lawal suffered two injuries trying to replicate Tchamadeu's ability to get up and down the touchline.

    At times, Ben Gibson, another centre-back has had to play left-back leaving Stoke without any real dynamism coming from full-back on either side and that in turn has hurt their wide forwards.

    All of the above did their best to fill in as square pegs in round holes and deserve plenty of credit but the return of Tchamadeu in particular gives Stoke so much more balance.

    The Potters injury crisis has affected every area of the pitch but after the win against Watford, Million Manhoef spoke honestly about the additional options he has on the ball and the added threat he feels he can provide from the right wing when he knows Tchamadeu is in the team and will overlap or underlap enthusiastically.

    Balance, variety and athleticism were all missing as Stoke slipped down the table either side of new year but six goals in their last two games suggest much of that is back.

  22. Play-off dream back on for Stoke?

    Sam Fletcher
    Final Score reporter

    Sorba Thomas cheering in a red and white striped Stoke City home shirt with the crowd behind himShutterstock

    Six goals across two back-to-back home games for Stoke City, who breathe a bit of life back into their season.

    Sorba Thomas was back in the starting 11 after serving his red card suspension, adding yet another assist to his impressive tally. He won't be credited for the other two goals but his ability to break, read the game and put in successful cross after cross was central to this win for the Potters.

    Thomas has amassed more than 300 crosses so far this season, which is 70 more than anyone else in the league. His presence also seemed to give the team confidence to play.

    Perhaps there is a light at the end of the tunnel for injury-stricken Stoke as key players start to come back, including Sam Gallagher, who came off the bench to bag the third.

    The question is, without the injury issues, and with a player like Sorba Thomas in their ranks, could Stoke have staked their claim in the play-offs?

  23. Phil Taylor - a bald man with a red and black sponsored shirt - smiles and claps. A dart board can be seen on a red surface in the background.

  24. A close-up of a green fence erected at a country park. An overgrown piece of land is visible beyond it with a "private land" sign attached to a tree. A footpath can be seen on our side of the fence to the left.
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