And it was not until Ryan Shawcross's towering header was cleared off the line by Danny Murphy on the stroke of half-time that Stoke started to crank up the pressure and suggest they were capable of getting back into the match.

“I'd scorn for to mislest a gentleman when he's taking his pleasure.”

Americans have been antimercenary since the British sent 30,000 German Hessians after George Washington in the Revolutionary War.

Talk about the modern barbiturates, with sideboarded beds and bedside nursing guards!