A plane carrying Stoke City players back from their 4-0 defeat at Portsmouth on Tuesday was forced to make an emergency midnight landing.

The charter flight, which took off from Southampton Airport on Tuesday bound for the East Midlands, was redirected to Gatwick Airport at 0013 GMT.

Players reported a smell of burning in the cabin so the captain diverted to the nearest airport.

The plane was met on the runway by fire engines as a precautionary measure.

Although there was no sign of any fire following an inspection by the airport's crew the squad were forced to continue the rest of the journey home by coach at 0135 GMT.

Goalkeeper Steve Simonsen told BBC Radio Stoke: "It was pretty eventful to say the least.

"About 20 minutes into the journey there was a strange smell coming through the plane.

"There was no smoke or flames, but the pilot followed the emergency procedure and took us to the nearest airport.

"When you're in that sort of situation you just want to get back down on the ground and, thankfully, that's what we did."

Stoke were thumped by Portsmouth to go out of the Carling Cup with two goals from Frederic Piquionne, and one each from Danny Webber and Kanu earning Pompey victory.

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