Akinbiyi to face lads at Stoke City

Stoke City's most recent signing, Ade Akinbiyi, will be part of the squad to face Sunderland on Tuesday night at the Britannia Stadium.

Stoke boss Tony Pulis confirmed today, "He will be involved in some way against Sunderland - we will just have to be a bit careful and a bit patient with him at the start.

"Ade needs a month of hard work because his fitness levels are not what they should be.

"But he is a goalscorer and he will cause people problems and get goals at this level.''

Akinbiyi, 28, has been with Stoke since March this year, on loan from our oppo yesterday - Crystal Palace. He has scored twice for them since then.

Ironically it was an Akinbiyi goal which perhaps indicated to some Sunderland supporters that the club's fortunes were on the wane, when the Hackney-born striker scored against the Lads for Leicester in our match against them at Filbert Street in November 2001 - it was Akinbiyi's first goal in fifteen league matches for the Foxes.

Only weeks after that defeat came the humiliating 5-0 away defeat to Ipswich, and the Lads ended the season avoiding relegation by only the narrowest of margins, with our fate only being decided on the final afternoon of the season.