The plane carrying the Stoke City team which was forced to make an emergency landing on Tuesday night suffered an oil leak.

Players had reported a burning smell from the cabin of the charter flight.

Airsouthwest.com issued a statement after investigations found one of the engines had suffered a small oil leak.

"At no point were the passengers or crew at any risk and our captain made the right decision in choosing to make a precautionary landing," it read.

The charter flight was making its way to East Midlands Airport after Stoke's 4-0 Carling Cup defeat at Portsmouth.

The statement continued: "Following detailed investigations by our engineers, the smell in the cabin is believed to have been caused by a very small oil leak in a motor used to start one of the engines."

The squad eventually reached Stoke at 0600 GMT, after continuing their journey by coach, but manager Tony Pulis said his team would use plane travel again if necessary.

"These things happen, but you can get as many problems going by road, so we are not going to let it affect how we plan things in the future," Pulis said.

"One or two of the players were a bit shocked at the time, but generally speaking they are a resilient bunch of lads and everyone seems fine now."

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