'Worrying' - Stoke City fans pile in after Bristol Rovers defeat

Stoke City's penultimate friendly of their pre-season campaign ended in a 2-0 defeat at Bristol Rovers.

The League One side took the lead courtesy of summer signing Aden Flint putting the ball into his own net. And it could have been 2-0 shortly after, but Joe Bursik denied Aaron Collins from the penalty spot.

However, Joey Barton's men did grab a second in the second half when Harvey Saunders completed a Rovers counter-attack from a Stoke corner to seal the result.

The Potters finalise their preparations for the 2022/23 season on Saturday when they face Scottish Premiership side Hearts (3pm) before they travel to Millwall the following weekend in their first game of the Championship campaign.

Following the defeat, Stoke fans have been reacting to the result on Twitter...

Really can't wait for the season to start after watching that!

Let's get to the reaction - I'm sure it won't be full of people overreacting to a preseason friendly at all.

Good lord.

Remember, we only lost 1 game during Nathan Jones pre-season (narrowly against Leicester). Results mean nothing as pre season is and always will be about getting minutes into legs ready for the first game of the season.

Said at the end of last season - priority is a goalie and a centre forward, otherwise midtable. Appreciate friendlies don't tell whole story, but I stand by what I said.

Picking up where we left off last season I see.

This is very worrying.