The Ukrainians had picked up only a single point from 10 previous trips to England but they dominated the first half at the Britannia Stadium on Thursday night and took a deserved lead through a Matthew Upson own goal. Stoke improved in the second half but had to wait until nine minutes from time to grab the vital goal, Kenwyne Jones heading in Jermaine Pennant's cross to make it 1-1. The Potters will finish their Group E campaign with a trip to Istanbul in a fortnight's time to face Besiktas, where a repeat of this result would be enough to see them top the table. Pulis and his players have fully embraced the competition and are the first English side through to the last 32, and the Welshman admitted he is baffled by managers who see it as a headache. He said: "We were off the pace in the first half but they're a good side. There was one change from the side that knocked Manchester City out last season. "What we've done is fantastic and we've qualified from what I think is the toughest group. "That's nine games in Europe and nine games unbeaten. It's a great, great achievement. It's very difficult for Premier League teams to play in the Europa League because you come back and every game is like a cup final. "You can look at other European leagues and the strength in depth isn't as great. It's a real struggle in that respect but we want to do well. "It's the first time we've been in Europe for more than 30 years. You can wash it away, but I don't want to wash it away, I want to enjoy it, I want the supporters to enjoy it, I want everybody at the football club to enjoy it because we might not get it for a while again. "It's the first time this football club's ever achieved this, so it's another milestone and is testimony to everything we're trying to do." Perhaps knowing they only needed a draw was in the back of the Stoke players' minds as they made a slow start. Oleksandr Aliyev had fired in a couple of warning shots before he made one count in the 28th minute, his 18-yard effort turned into his own net by the unfortunate Upson. The visitors could and maybe should have doubled their lead, Andriy Shevchenko firing just the wrong side of the post, but Stoke were a different side in the second half. They began to push their opponents back and Wilson Palacios and Pennant both went close to an equaliser before, nine minutes from time, the winger swung over a perfect cross for Jones to nod in. Still the point was not secure, and Stoke were grateful to goalkeeper Asmir Begovic, who recently lost his place to Thomas Sorensen in the Barclays Premier League, for a stunning last-gasp save to keep out Andriy Yarmolenko's long-ranger. Pulis added: "We had a responsibility to chase the game and try to score. All European teams are very good at counter-attacking. We got too stretched, too carried away with wanting to win the game."
