Pulis was unhappy that York arrived late for their FA Cup third round tie

Stoke City manager Tony Pulis believes he did the right thing by picking his strongest team to face York City in Saturday's third round FA Cup tie.

The Potters have a Premier League home game against Fulham on Tuesday night.

But Pulis told BBC Radio Stoke: "The pitches have been very hard in the last couple of days and it's been hard to get out there and train.

"I told the players that I would play a strong side but cut back on the training. We've got a three-game week."

The Stoke boss continued: "It's always difficult when you're playing at the intensity that you have to do in the Premier League.

"I just felt that if we took our foot off the gas a little bit in training, it would save our legs for the three games."

Kick-off was delayed by 30 minutes after the York team coach was caught in a blizzard on the M62 en route to the Britannia Stadium.

The non-league side were eventually beaten 3-1, although they did cause an early shock by taking the lead against their Premier League opponents in the first half.

"Them not turning up, our players left hanging around for two-and-a-half hours, and then they score from a set-play," added Pulis. "You wonder if it's going to be one of those days again, but the attitude of the players was fantastic."

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